Adobe has announced that it will no longer pursue criminal proceedings against illegal distributors of their software in Russia.
This marks a significant change in strategy from the American company, which had previously actively fought against online-piracy. In 2012 Adobe was involved in 27% of the criminal proceedings related to copyright infringement, and in 2013 it opened 719 cases against copyright-infringers.
The decision also means that Adobe staff employed specifically to fight against software-piracy will be made redundant, including Igor Slabikh, who heads their anti-piracy department in Russia and the CIS.
Adobe’s decision to cut down their costs in Russia are in line with a global trend. Falling sales in developing markets led the firm to close its office in Taiwan in 2012, and it subsequently cut back in Turkey and the UAE. Now its Russian staff will be cut by half – to ten people.
While Adobe’s decision comes as a blow to the battle against software piracy in Russia, the war is far from over. Adobe will remain a member of the Business Software Alliance, which targets individual software installers employed by corporations to install pirate software. 52% of cases brought by Adobe in 2013 were against these individuals.
Microsoft, the only company to have fought piracy more actively than Adobe, also has no plans to give up the battle. Dmitry Berestnev, the director of the American company’s licensed-software promotion department in Russia said told Vedomosti that “intellectual property and its monetization are the main drivers of IT-market development and innovation in any country.”
