The amount of damage for criminal liability for violation of copyright has been increased

As is known, for violation of intellectual property rights, not only civil and administrative, but also criminal liability is provided. However, the violator can be brought to criminal liability only if, as a result of his actions, large or especially large damage is caused to the copyright holder.

In particular, according to Art. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation [1] establishes liability for the following violations of copyright and related rights:

• appropriation of authorship (plagiarism), if this act caused major damage to the author or other copyright holder (Part 1 of Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
• illegal use of objects of copyright or related rights, as well as the acquisition, storage, transportation of counterfeit copies of works or phonograms for sales purposes, committed on a large scale (Part 2 of Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Currently, for violations under Part 2 and Part 3 of Art. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the amount of damage is considered large if the cost of copies of works or phonograms or the value of the rights to use objects of copyright and related rights exceeds one hundred thousand rubles, and especially large - one million rubles (note to Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

How is the amount of damage determined?

As follows from the explanations of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation [2], the amount of damage under Part 2 and Part 3 of Art. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is determined in the following ways:

• is calculated based on the retail value of original (licensed) copies of works or phonograms at the time of the crime. In this case, their quantity is taken into account, including copies of works or phonograms that belong to different copyright holders;
• if it is impossible to use the first method of calculation (for example, if the value has not yet been determined by the copyright holder), the value of counterfeit copies, as well as the value of the rights to use, is determined by conducting an examination.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation indicated [3] that the following persons may be victims in criminal cases of crimes under Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

• the author of a work is an individual whose creative work created it;
• holders of related rights - performers, producers of phonograms, broadcasting and cable broadcasting organizations;
• other individuals and/or legal entities to whom copyright or related rights belong on the basis of law, passed on by inheritance or by contract.

How will the amount of damage change?

From June 23, 2024, amendments come into force [4] that increase the threshold values for the amount of large and especially large damage for bringing to liability under Part 2 and Part 3 of Art. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, namely:

• the damage is considered major if its size exceeds five hundred thousand rubles;
• the damage is considered especially large if its size exceeds two million rubles.

Sources:

1. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation dated June 13, 1996 N 63-FZ (as amended on May 29, 2024) (as amended and supplemented, entered into force on June 10, 2024) // SPS “ConsultantPlus”
2. Clause 25 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 26, 2007 N 14 “On the practice of courts considering criminal cases of violation of copyright, related, inventive and patent rights, as well as illegal use of a trademark” // SPS "ConsultantPlus"
3. Clause 1 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 26, 2007 N 14 “On the practice of courts considering criminal cases of violation of copyright, related, inventive and patent rights, as well as illegal use of a trademark” // SPS “ConsultantPlus”
4. Federal Law of June 12, 2024 N 133-FZ “On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation” // SPS “ConsultantPlus”