Belarus Needs Access to Foreign IP<\/h2>\n
Lukashenko\u2019s support for Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine led to new sanctions being imposed by the\u00a0U.S.<\/a>,\u00a0EU<\/a>,\u00a0UK<\/a>, and other countries.<\/p>\n In common with Russia, Belarus relies on intellectual property owned by foreign rightsholders that are currently unable or unwilling to supply and\/or license it. So, to ensure\u00a0legal<\/em>\u00a0access to pirated movies, music, TV shows and software, the government drafted a new law to restrict intellectual property rights.<\/p>\n Adopted by the House of Representatives (lower house) on December 20, 2022, and the Council of the Republic (upper house) a day later, Lukashenko signed its provisions into law on January 3, 2023.<\/p>\n The law\u00a0\u2018On the limitation of exclusive rights to objects of intellectual property\u2019<\/em>\u00a0targets rightsholders or collective management licensing organizations representing multiple rightsholders.<\/p>\n If these are from foreign countries \u201ccommitting unfriendly actions\u201d against Belarus, \u201cwhich forbade or did not give consent\u201d for lawfully published items of intellectual property to be used in Belarus, their exclusive rights relating to specified product classes will be limited.<\/p>\n In this case, rightsholder permission will not be required for content to be used in Belarus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The law specifies computer programs and audiovisual works, including movies, music, and TV shows. The document states that film distribution, cinema organizations, and broadcasters are covered by the law, suggesting that first-run movies and live TV channels will also be affected.<\/p>\n Belarus is a\u00a0signatory<\/a>\u00a0to several major intellectual property treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization. None have a reputation for accommodating state-sanctioned piracy.<\/p>\n The new law \u2013 which effectively disposes of exclusive rights for those affected \u2013 states that when people\/entities make use of unlicensed\/pirated content, remuneration must be paid directly to bank accounts operated by the state-owned National Patent Authority.<\/p>\n Any funds sent to these accounts will be held for three years from the date of credit, enabling rightsholders to claim what is legally theirs. If they fail to do so, Belarus will keep their money.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter three years, the remuneration not demanded by the right holder or the organization for the collective management of property rights will be transferred by the Patent Authority to the republican budget within three months,\u201d the text reads.<\/p>\n Depriving rightsholders of all rights except the right to get paid might sound like a \u201cbetter than nothing\u201d deal, but that assumes foreign rightsholders will actually get paid.<\/p>\n Under this new regime, it appears that rightsholders\u2019 will be denied their right to determine a market price for their content. Instead, the lower house of the Belarusian parliament will determine the market price based on unknown factors.<\/p>\n Even if we assume that people using foreign content will declare that use to the government, Belarus says that rightsholders must reimburse the Patent Authority for its management and accounting expenses. The authority must not deduct \u201cmore than 20 percent\u201d from the funds collected but given the authority can spend those deductions on whatever it likes, there\u2019s certainly an incentive to take more rather than less.<\/p>\n But what if Belarus charged the full market rate for movies, music and software and administered the scheme for free \u2013 could rightsholders settle for that?<\/p>\n As mentioned earlier, rightsholders have to claim the money from the Patent Authority. And according to the Belarus National Center of Intellectual Property, the Patent Authority\u00a0banks<\/a>\u00a0with Belarusbank in Minsk. The government owns 99% of the bank and both are subject to sanctions.<\/p>\n Another feature of the new law relates to unlicensed parallel imports \u201cto create conditions for increasing the internal stability of the economy\u201d and \u201cpreventing or reducing a critical shortage in the domestic market of food and other products.\u201d<\/p>\n When these parallel imports contain or include items covered by intellectual property law, permission from rightsholders will not be required. This applies to \u2018unfriendly countries\u2019 and friendly countries alike, with one caveat.<\/p>\n When rightsholders from \u2018friendly countries\u2019 cooperate with Belarus, the law says that only \u201ccritical shortages of these goods\u2026.in the domestic market\u201d will lead to their rights being removed.<\/p>\n The law\u00a0(pdf<\/a>)<\/em>\u00a0will come into force this week and remain in place until December 31, 2024.<\/p>\n Source: \u00a0New Law Legalizes Audiovisual Piracy<\/h2>\n
![\"belarus-law-1\"](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/belarus-law-1.png\")
<\/a><\/center> <\/p>\nThose Who Use Unlicensed Content Must Pay For It<\/h2>\n
The Small Print\u2026..<\/h2>\n
Parallel Imports<\/h2>\n
![\"TorrentFreak\"](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/torrentfreak.png\")
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