Rigid license – Newspaper Kommersant No. 165 (7366) dated 09/08/2022

As Kommersant found out, the opinions of market participants on the need for “compulsory licensing”, that is, in fact, the use without the permission of the copyright holder, content from “unfriendly” countries diverged sharply. Movie theaters have supported the bill submitted to the State Duma in the summer, which gives them a chance to avoid a complete collapse. Book publishers are also interested, but insist on formalizing the process through a registry and auctions. However, online cinemas are confident that the initiative will destroy “the entire Russian creative industry.” Instead, the author of the bill objects, the “constitutional right of the people to cultural values” will be protected.

The Association of Cinema Owners (AVK), the Internet Video Association (which unites ivi, Okko, Start, etc.) and the Russian Book Union (RCS; unites the largest publishing houses) sent comments to the State Duma on the draft law on compulsory licensing of content from “unfriendly” countries , told Kommersant in associations. We are talking about a document submitted by the deputy from the “Fair Russia” Dmitry Kuznetsov (see “Kommersant” dated August 19). According to it, Russian companies will be able to obtain inaccessible licenses for “film works, computer programs, music collections, literary and other works” through the courts from copyright holders from “unfriendly” countries that refuse to sell directly.

The head of AVK, Alexei Voronkov, told Kommersant that the association supports the project: “It will allow cinemas to continue working: most of their revenue came from foreign content, Russian cinema cannot compensate for losses in the coming years.”

Also, Mr. Voronkov claims that foreign studios will be happy to supply content bypassing sanctions through intermediaries, similar to parallel imports.

“We are discussing technical details related, for example, to providing an editing list to Gosfilmofond and obtaining distribution certificates,” Alexey Voronkov specified. According to him, it is proposed to generally speed up the process of obtaining rights to films in order to avoid leaks to pirates.

According to Maxim Ryabyko, a member of the RCC Digital Transformation Committee, publishers also support the bill under the threat that about half of foreign partners are not ready to renew contracts: “There are those in the industry who are ready to use compulsory licenses.”

At the same time, publishers are concerned that the peculiarities of rights in different industries are not taken into account. The RCC, in particular, proposes to create a “transparent mechanism for the distribution of non-exclusive rights” – for example, organize auctions and create a register. “It is also necessary to eliminate the risk of situations when, for example, a major player with large resources buys the rights to an e-book, and other publishers will not be able to buy the rights to it on paper,” Maxim Ryabyko added.

Online cinemas are sharply against the initiative.

Aleksey Byrdin, General Director of the Internet Video Association, is sure that the project is contrary to the norms and, in general, the logic of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, not to mention the violation of international agreements, and seriously increases the burden on the courts and the executive branch: “Its implementation will have long-term devastating consequences for the Russian creative industry.” According to Aleksey Byrdin, the project developers did not take into account the variety of models and the complexity of the film and television business.

“The main goal is to provide the people with the constitutional right to access cultural property and support our economy,” Dmitry Kuznetsov told Kommersant, assuring that he would take into account the peculiarities of each industry. “Opposition comes from entrepreneurs for whom the interests of the people or the domestic economy are not important, but not to upset the owners of the rights from unfriendly countries.

The legislature seeks to solve problems in the interests of the consumer and the state, Yury Fedyukin, managing partner of Enterprise Legal Solutions, clarifies the logic in more restrained terms: curtailing, for example, film distribution carries risks of reducing budget revenues. The position of online cinemas, he adds, can also be understood: a number of services manage to obtain the rights to high-rated content thanks to close ties with foreign partners. According to the lawyer, the negative impact in this direction “can be reduced by by-laws.”

Valeria Lebedeva