Belarus legalizes copyright infringement of movies, music and software in ``unfriendly countries'' following Russia
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a new law legalizing the piracy of movies, music, TV shows and software owned by rights holders in 'unfriendly countries'. Belarus, which is complicit in Russia's war with Ukraine, is also subject to sanctions from other countries, and it is claimed to be a solution to the resulting shortage of critical products in the domestic market.
Закон Республики Беларусь Палаты представителей Национального собрания Республики Беларусь от 03.01.2023 г. № 241-З «Об ограничении исключительных прав на объекты интеллектуальной собственности» – Pravo.by
Belarus Legalizes Piracy of Movies, Music & Software of 'Unfriendly' Nations * TorrentFreak
https://torrentfreak.com/belarus-legalizes-piracy-of-movies-music-software-of-unfriendly-nations-230109/
Lukashenko has been sanctioned by the US, EU and other countries for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Belarus, which imports intellectual property owned by rights holders from other countries into its own country, faces difficulties in importing and domestically supplying such property due to sanctions. Drafting new laws restricting intellectual property rights, aimed at ensuring lawful access.
The draft Law on Restriction of Exclusive Rights to Objects of Intellectual Property is aimed at licensing organizations representing right holders or multiple right holders. If these are countries that have 'behaved unfriendlyly' towards Belarus and have not 'prohibited or consented' to the use of their intellectual property in Belarus, exclusive rights to certain product categories could be granted. Limited.
In this case, there is no need for users to seek permission from rights holders for content used in Belarus. In other words, it is possible to use content that has intellectual property rights owned by the right holder without permission.
However, those who use unauthorized content must pay compensation to the government. The new law stipulates that when people or entities use unauthorized content, they must pay for the content directly to a bank account operated by the National Patent Office. Funds transferred to this account will be held for 3 years from the date of deposit, during which time content rights holders can legally claim compensation. However, if the right holder does not request it, it will be put into the national treasury after a three-year storage period.
'Consideration' refers to the price of content, but with the establishment of the new law, the right to decide the price will be deprived from the content right holder, and the Belarusian parliament will decide instead. It is stipulated that the country can deduct up to 20% from the collected funds, not all the consideration paid to the country goes to the right holder.
Another feature of the new law is that it deals with parallel imports in order to increase economic stability and prevent or mitigate critical shortages of food and other products. The new law stipulates that goods deemed “essential” for the country will be deprived of intellectual property rights, even in friendly countries of Belarus, only if there is a decisive shortage in the domestic market. For this reason, rights can be infringed on any product regardless of whether it is in a friendly or unfriendly country.
The new law was adopted by the House of Representatives on December 20, 2022 and by the Council of the Republic (Senate) the following day, and signed into law by President Lukashenko on January 3, 2023. It will come into effect the week of January 9th and will remain in force until December 31st, 2024.
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