Belarus legalises media piracy from “unfriendly” countries
The Belarussian government, a close ally of Russia in the recent invasion of Ukraine, has legalised the piracy of media and intellectual property from countries it considers “unfriendly”. The law was passed by Belarus at the end of December last year and will remain in place until the end of 2024.
The law means that internet users can legally pirate digital goods, including movies, music and computer software such as video games and applications, so long as the distributor of the goods lives in “foreign states that commit unfriendly actions against Belarusian legal entities and (or) individuals.”
Belarus has been sanctioned by a number of foreign countries ever since the current President, Alexander Lukashenko, took power in 1994 – claiming that he is the “last dictator”. The sanctions came in from the Western world when Lukashenko began to crack down on internal dissent after it was suggested that the 2020 elections were fraudulent.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belarus received further restrictions on a number of technological imports surrounding the defence and aerospace industries. In addition to that, companies such as Intel, Airbnb and Amazon ceased service in the country, as did CD Projekt Red, the video games developer responsible for creating the Witcher game series.
The new law states that the use of foreign media and intellectual property is authorised in Belarus so long as it comes from countries that have placed sanctions, even without the permission of the rights holders of that property. The Belarussian government will continue to collect royalties for that property, but it will be held by the patent authority.
If the rights holders do not collect the royalties in three years, then the money will be used for other governmental purposes. The law includes physical goods and allows the import of such goods without gaining the consent of rights holders to prevent “a critical shortage in the domestic market of food and other products.”
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