Russian IT security solutions developer Kaspersky Lab plans to open a new US office in the Washington D.C. area to sell its products to the US government, Reuters reported earlier this month. One of the world’s biggest buyers of security software, the US government traditionally avoids purchasing Russian IT products out of fear that they …
Kaspersky Lab aims to “be more American than the Americans” Read More
In his speech at a plenary session held in Skolkovo’s Hypercube building last month, Viktor Vekselberg, the tech hub’s president, identified the emigration of tech specialists as one of Russia’s most pressing issues. “It’s a shame to hear Russian speech everywhere when you go to Silicon Valley,” Vekselberg said. “Large [Russian] corporations need to be …
Skolkovo claims it reduces brain drain from Russia; announces new R&D center in Amsterdam Read More
While the number of bookstores and hardcopy books is shrinking in Russia, the market for electronic books is booming. Unfortunately, most e-books in Russia are illegally consumed through pirated downloads. The online project Read Legally – Russia’s first social campaign of this kind – aims to alert readers to the harm that illegal downloads do authors and to …
Russia’s largest social network, VKontakte – also known as VK.com – has appealed a court order to reimburse lost profits from a pop singer’s songs hosted on its website. This is one of many scandals involving VKontakte, which the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has accused of being one of the most important players in the audio piracy …
Surfingbird.ru, the first mover on Russia’s nascent web content discovery market, could become a victim of its own success, having attracted the hostile attention of global leader Stumbleupon.com. So far things have gone relatively well for Surfingbird. Launched in June 2011, the startup secured a $2.5 million series A round just a few months later, …
Russian startup Surfingbird accused of patent violation by US giant Stumbleupon Read More
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued a statement earlier this month showing that in music markets such as Russia and China, “the levels of piracy are so great that they essentially eclipse the output of the legitimate sector.” Commenting on this year’s broader annual “Special 301” report to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) …
Piracy in Russia’s music market eclipses legitimate sector – RIAA Read More
The Russian Ministry of Telecommunications has been tasked with developing a set of measures aimed at ensuring international legal protection of intellectual property (IP) owned by Russian companies, Venture-News.ru reported earlier this week. The work was kick-started by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in late December 2012. The planned measures are said to include government subsidies …
Russia masterminds ‘patent armor’ for domestic intellectual property Read More
Last week the Russian and US governments signed an agreement that contains an action plan to protect intellectual property rights. The agreement requires the parties to fight online piracy, close websites hosting litigious content, allocate funds for anti-piracy enforcement measures and coordinate efforts towards these ends. Russia will have to alter its current legislation – particularly …
The Russian Ministry of Education and Science has announced the start of a public debate over this country’s new long-term intellectual property (IP) protection strategy, portal Science and Technologies Russia reported earlier this week. The document is reported to have accumulated opinions and suggestions from Russia’s leading experts who represent VC funds, venture companies and larger …
Russia drafts its new IP protection strategy and encourages public feedback Read More
An estimated forty-three percent of Russian employees use unlicensed copies of software at work, copies that in a majority of cases were installed by their employers, revealed a survey conducted by Russian online job site HH.ru earlier this month. Employers’ greed is the main culprit, according to the respondents, who suffer from a range of …
Unlicensed software still widespread in Russian companies, but repression intensifies Read More
QRGL, a startup established in Russia’s third largest city Ekaterinburg in the Ural mountains, secured $1 million from Veles Capital, a Moscow asset management company, regional portal 66.ru reported last week. Veles Capital will receive a two-third stake in the company. Founded in April 2010 by Pavel Medvedev, QRGL has developed an anti-counterfeit technology that …
In a feint that has galvanized the Apple community and exposed an apparent flaw in the iOS, a Russian hacker has dodged official in-app purchase procedures and conned Apple’s App Store into letting him get paid content for free, Macworld magazine reports. Upon completing his hack last week, Alexey Borodin, the developer of the procedure, …
Russian hacker takes iOS in-app purchasing for a ride; Apple’s response middle-of-the-road Read More
