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In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many companies in the West have stopped doing business with the country, including plenty of technology and software companies. Tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Sony and Adobe have pulled products and services from Russia, along with plenty of gaming companies, like Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive and Epic Games, just to name a few.

However, as reported by TorrentFreak, Russia may change its laws to waive all punishments for software piracy, as long as the software originates from a company that is supporting the sanctions on Russia, and no Russian equivalent exists. In a document titled "Priority Action Plan for Ensuring the Development of the Russian Economy in the Conditions of External Sanctions Pressure," the Ministry of Economic Development proposes a number of measures to lessen the impact of these sanctions. One idea under consideration, point 6.7.3, reads “Cancellation of liability for the use of software (SW) unlicensed in the Russian Federation, owned by a copyright holder from countries that have supported the sanctions.”

A similar item, 6.7.1, regards intellectual property rights, removing punishments for violating intellectual property when it comes to "rights to an invention, utility model, industrial design in relation to computer programs, databases, topologies of integrated circuits." CityAM, a business and financial newspaper based out of London, has reported that this measure has been approved, citing state-sanctioned newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta as its source. While this doesn't apply to software (the measure simply allows "Russian firms [...] to use innovations from unfriendly countries without paying to use the IP," as CityAM explains), if this measure has been passed, it's possibly 6.7.3 has been or will be soon. Of course, being a state-owned newspaper, any reports from Rossiyskaya Gazeta should be taken with a grain of salt. Similarly, according to gazeta.ru, Russian politician Dmitry Ionin has proposed unblocking certain torrent trackers in the country in response to Hollywood films not being released in the country. While it still appears to be blocked, and the report may be fraudulent, it would be an unprecedented move for the Russian government to make.

itch.io's Bundle for Ukraine is still available for the next six days. It contains nearly a thousand games and assets for just $10, and has raised over $4 million so far, with all proceeds going to charities to support Ukraine. It contains some popular games like SkateBIRD, SUPERHOT, Celeste and Towerfall: Ascension.

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[ShadowOne333]

Oh wow, get fucked west and Japan corps. (I can already see Nintendo and Disney crying blood tears).
China may follow suit, alongside North Korea, it's not hard to see it happen as they were already too lax with the piracy stuff.
Now I can see the US and all their best pals making congress movements to block VPNs or proxys based there, surely they'll do something like that cuz "their moneyz".

Guess the world is finding balance in the most shady of ways, but oh well, I just hope it all resolves in the best way possible (aka not nuclear war).

 

[Xzi]

Not like many Russians cared about the legality of piracy to begin with, but removing all IP law sounds like a North China type of move for sure.

Oh wow, get fucked west corps.

Lmao, as if this makes any difference in the ruble's value. All new Russian bank accounts are based in yuan, so China just managed to take over a much bigger chunk of the continent without firing a single shot.

 

[noctis90210]

Sony and Nintendo are not from west

 

[duwen]

So, do VPN's not exist in Russia?

 

[Skelletonike]

I can understand where this is coming from to be honest.

If the company I work for can't use a certain program or service all of a sudden, when it's necessary to use them (like SAP for example) in order to work, I can see why piracy would be a must in that situation.

I honestly find a lot of these sanctions pointless since all they're doing is make things worse. If you poke an angry bear too much, things won't end well.

 

[eyeliner]

So, do VPN's not exist in Russia?

With the economic lockdown, where money can't get out of the country, I'm almost sure they can't use a VPN from a foreign country to access the outside internet.

I'd be willing to bet that VPN vendors in Russia are not abundant. If Mother Russia blocks the outside internet, Russians will be closed off from democracy.

We should bomb them to free them of the tyranny of bad men.

 

[Ralkila]

Oh wow, get fucked west and Japan corps. (I can already see Nintendo and Disney crying blood tears).
China may follow suit, alongside North Korea, it's not hard to see it happen as they were already too lax with the piracy stuff.
Now I can see the US and all their best pals making congress movements to block VPNs or proxys based there, surely they'll do something like that cuz "their moneyz".

Guess the world is finding balance in the most shady of ways, but oh well, I just hope it all resolves in the best way possible (aka not nuclear war).

Get fuck what?

This place is full of MAGA / AFD fucktards it seems.

 

[Xzi]

I honestly find a lot of these sanctions pointless since all they're doing is make things worse. If you poke an angry bear too much, things won't end well.

Uhh...you realize the sanctions came after Putin invaded a peaceful sovereign nation and not before, right? Bear literally chose to step right into the bear trap.

 

[erikas]

Russians sell pirated dvds with games and movies in bazars. It's been legal in every way but writing for years.

 

[Kioku]

I can see this thread ending well.

 

[KingVamp]

I wonder how companies will react to this, after the war.

 

[Coto]

Russians sell pirated dvds with games and movies in bazars. It's been legal in every way but writing for years.

it's a China's new law "we don´t support the West but we do support our ally otherwise we'd go bankrupt"

 

[Glyptofane]

Lmao, as if this makes any difference in the ruble's value. All new Russian bank accounts are based in yuan, so China just managed to take over a much bigger chunk of the continent without firing a single shot.

The West hands it to China on a silver platter like always and China would be stupid to just stare a gift horse in the mouth. Seems like the opposite of what you'd want to happen unless there's some ulterior motive, but what the hell do I know? It seems difficult to believe our leadership is so stupid as to always make the wrong decisions about everything, but I suppose that's still possible.

 

[Skelletonike]

Uhh...you realize the sanctions came after Putin invaded a peaceful sovereign nation and not before, right? Bear literally chose to step right into the bear trap.

I know what happened, I also know that Putin is crazy and things can, and probably will, turn much, much worse.

 

[Olmectron]

So like Mexico.

There are laws, but since nearly no crimes are resolved (around 1% of all the reported ones), the government couldn't care less about piracy. There are even "flea shops" that put their stalls in the streets in a lot of cities where even Police members are seen buying pirated movies and whatever else you can pirate.

 

[Valwinz]

Some of the sanctions are flat-out dumb since I have seen average Russia actually starting to blame the west now and it will be funny when this is over and the same companies try to get back into Russia and people have everything pirated.

Sanctions that go after the Russian war machine do more than Macdonal closing their stores in Russia.

also, i guess the next time Israel steamrolls Palestine the same companies will close their stores there right?

But correct me if I'm wrong this makes pirating EA games in Russia legal now right?

 

[Snintendog]

Get fuck what?

This place is full of MAGA / AFD fucktards it seems.

This place is Neutral if you want an echo chamber go to reddit.

 

[Xzi]

I wonder how companies will react to this, after the war.

That's not a very clear time frame right now. Hard to see Putin giving up after he's sunk so much into the invasion, and if he even gets close to capturing the entirety of Ukraine, the people there will just switch to asymmetrical guerilla warfare. Russia has created an entire generation of rebels with a justified cause.

The West hands it to China on a silver platter like always and China would be stupid to just stare a gift horse in the mouth. Seems like the opposite of what you'd want to happen unless there's some ulterior motive, but what the hell do I know? It seems difficult to believe our leadership is so stupid as to always make the wrong decisions about everything, but I suppose that's still possible.

This was definitely not part of Putin's calculus, he just got outplayed by a different dictator. Russia wanted to force their cultural and political identity on Ukraine, but instead they'll end up with China's cultural and political identity forced on them. Could call it karma or poetic justice, I suppose.

 

[masagrator]

I have seen average Russia actually starting to blame the west now

Starting? They were blaming West for years, this is how Russian propaganda works. Putin is great, Stalin was great, Lenin was great. If not West, they would be rich.