VZCZCXRO7668
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #2172/01 2101326
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281326Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9204
INFO RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 5017
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 2902
RUEHYG/AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 3261
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 002172 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/RUS, EEB/TPP/IPE 
STATE PLS PAS USTR SMCCOY, JGROVES, PBURKEHEAD 
USDOC FOR 4231 FOR ITA/MAC/ORUE, WPAUGH, SWILSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR RS
SUBJECT: USTR Delegation Discusses IPR in Moscow 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified and is 
not intended for Internet distribution. 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (SBU) A USTR delegation, led by AUSTR for 
Intellectual Property and Innovation Stanford McCoy, 
visited Moscow June 23-24 for meetings with GOR officials 
and industry representatives on IPR protection and 
enforcement.  USTR focused on implementation of the U.S. 
? Russia IPR side letter, and in particular, protection 
for undisclosed data for registration of pharmaceuticals. 
End summary. 
 
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USTR Message: Keep the Focus on IPR 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) AUSTR for Intellectual Property and Innovation 
Stanford McCoy, Chief Counsel for Legal Affairs Catherine 
Field and Director for Europe and Middle East Trade Paul 
Burkhead, visited Moscow June 21-25 for discussions with 
rights holders and GOR officials responsible for IPR 
protection and enforcement.  Concerned about loss of 
momentum on IPR amidst a transitioning government, the 
USTR delegation focused on progress on implementation of 
the U.S. - Russia IPR side letter, part of a bilateral 
agreement with Russia signed in 2006. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The delegation specifically raised with GOR 
officials the need for better coordination on IPR between 
government ministries and agencies.  The delegation also 
expressed concern about enforcement efforts, the need for 
transparency in the upcoming tender to accredit 
collecting societies, amendments to Part IV of the Civil 
Code related to TRIPs compliance, and efforts to amend 
the Law on Medicines. 
 
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Meeting with Duma 
----------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) In his meeting with the USTR delegation, Duma 
Member and Chairman for the Committee on Culture Grigory 
Ivliev, largely responsible for enactment of Part IV of 
the Civil Code, appeared well briefed on all areas of 
IPR, including enforcement issues.  He noted that the 
Duma, in addition to working with the Ministry of Culture 
to see that Part IV of the Civil Code is correctly 
implemented, is also working with the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs (MVD) on the application of Russia's 
criminal law to combat piracy. 
 
¶5. (SBU) USTR noted the need for greater focus on 
enforcement and that the MVD needs to create a special 
unit responsible for Internet piracy.  Ivliev agreed that 
enforcement is problematic, but commented that new 
authority provided to law enforcement bodies by Part IV 
should help.  USTR commented that nevertheless, pirates 
quickly adapt to counter-piracy measures, and that the 
U.S. and Russia need to work together to protect 
innovative and creative industries. 
 
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Collecting Societies and Internet Piracy 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Alexander Kibovksi, Head of newly created 
Federal Service for the Protection of Culture 
(RosOkhranKultura) joined Ministry of Culture officials 
to discuss with USTR how plans are progressing to 
determine which ministries and agencies will be 
responsible for the implementation of various pieces of 
Russia's copyright-related commitments in the IPR side 
letter, as well as future plans for the U.S. - Russia IPR 
Working Group.  USTR raised the need for updated 
enforcement statistics, and noted that "getting a 
positive enforcement message" back to Washington is 
important. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Kibovski explained that RosOkranKultura is now 
responsible for some enforcement efforts and for 
accreditation of collecting societies.  He highlighted 
 
MOSCOW 00002172  002 OF 002 
 
 
that his agency, along with the Ministry of Culture, 
would oversee the destruction of 2 million seized 
counterfeit discs (confirmed in press reports later that 
week), and planned to conduct tenders in August to 
accredit two of the six categories of collecting 
societies, but did not name which categories would be 
accredited.  Both the Ministry of Culture and 
RosOkrankultura claimed no responsibility for preventing 
internet piracy, saying that function rests with the 
Federal Supervisory Service for Mass Communications 
(Rossvyaznadzor), headed by Boris Boyarskov. 
 
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Progress on Data Protection 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The USTR delegation had constructive 
discussions with GOR officials on a draft amendment to 
the Law on Medicines which would implement Russia's 
commitment to provide 6 years of protection for tests and 
other data submitted to register pharmaceutical patents. 
The delegation met with officials from the Ministry of 
Health and with the Federal Service for Health and Social 
Development (Roszdravnadzor) to discuss how amendments to 
the Law on Health would be implemented by Russian 
regulatory authorities.  Discussion focused on 
clarification of a provision in the amendment, which 
would allow the use of data published in "dedicated" 
journals, subject to a 6-year prohibition, without the 
permission of the entity owning the data. (Comment: 
Although GOR officials said the draft amendment would be 
submitted immediately to the Presidential Administration 
for approval, and then forwarded to the Duma, 
representatives of pharmaceutical companies report that 
the Ministry of Health circulated a different draft for 
comments shortly after the delegation left Moscow.) 
 
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Industry Views 
-------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) IPR industry representatives outlined several 
areas of concern during a briefing with USTR, noting in 
particular the need for an "IPR one-stop shop" within the 
GOR - one agency or government official responsible for 
IPR.  The representative from IFPI (representing the 
Recording Industry Association of America) called for a 
decrease in monetary thresholds to make IPR cases easier 
to prosecute.  He also noted that problems remain with 
forensic analysis results of pirated goods. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Russian Anti-Piracy Association (RAPO), 
representing the Motion Picture Association, warned that 
as access to broadband Internet becomes more prevalent in 
Russia, Internet piracy of movies will likely increase. 
They noted that Part IV of the Civil Code does not 
provide any authority to sell movies legally for 
download, nor does it provide for the creation of a 
collecting society for the film industry.  Business 
Software Alliance representatives praised the Embassy for 
organizing a recent seminar to raise GOR awareness of the 
need for a corporate criminal liability law that could 
hold companies, not just individuals, responsible for IPR 
violations. 
 
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Comment 
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¶7. (SBU) We expect the pace of IPR legislative 
improvements and enforcement efforts will pick up 
again in early fall after the summer vacation lull, 
particularly if we can agree with the Ministry of 
Culture on dates for a next IPR Working Group, 
tentatively planned for end-September. 
 
RUBIN