INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY-AN ISSUE NOT RAISED AT THE SUMMIT?

The InternationalUnion for the Defense of Intellectual Property estimates that American firmslost $805 million from the sale of pirated copies of computer programs andvideo and audio cassettes in Russia, Izvestiya reported May 4. The paper saidthat 85% of the audio cassettes sold in Moscow are illegal copies and notedthat the figure is even higher outside the Russian capital. The RussianFederation joined the two international conventions in this area only inMarch 1995 and has not yet adopted the necessary laws to enforce them.Despite the paper’s prediction that this problem would be an issue at thesummit, there has been no indication that the issue in fact was raised in themeetings between Clinton and Yeltsin.

Auctioning Off Russian Television.