Yulia Golubeva at Russian Creative Week: “Intellectual property equals successful business. Creative industries will not exist without intellectual property rights. It will be anything but business”

Without the protection of the law, there will be no business

The closing session of Russian Creative Week’s business program, called “Intellectual property rights - how to protect your creations”, was held on August 29. Yulia Golubeva, deputy CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding, took part in the event.

The economic appeal of the creative industries is increasing every year as is the trend of their cross-industry applications. However, there is still no culture in society to respect intellectual property rights and the labours of creative individuals. At the session, intellectual property experts discussed the importance of protecting copyrights and creative products from illegal use and distribution.

Yulia Golubeva stressed that the discussion topic has multiple levels because it influences and is influenced by all processes that take place in the creative industries. She spoke about the two most important aspects that affect what protections exist for copyrights and creative labour.

In part, she reminded the session’s participants about the importance of creating a single audience measurement tool across all media platforms.

“Its absence is a serious barrier for the development of domestic media platforms and attracting investments into content production. The government, which offers financial support for creative industries through various means, could use this data to manage the investments with more flexibility and to better understand the audience’s needs not only in mainstream television and film distribution, but also in the digital environment. As for the authors and copyright holders, a single data system could become the foundation for transparent and fair remuneration. Moreover, this data can give copyright holders and authors information about how their content is faring online and help them make decisions about product development,” said Yulia Golubeva. 

As a case study, she talked about the film Serebryanye Konki (The Silver Skates), which was released in Russian movie theatres in December 2020.  

“The Silver Skates did not have a big box office because of the pandemic. However, the film proved very popular on digital platforms around the world. Its producers have decided to make a sequel,” said Yulia Golubeva.

Gazprom-Media Holding’s deputy CEO then spoke about the second layer of protecting intellectual property rights - the battle against piracy, which is a major problem for the development of creative industries and a concern for all industry members.

“Intellectual rights and their protection equal successful business. If they are not protected, there can be no creative industries. Without right protections there is no business. Creative products exist in the digital sphere. Material objects and products are created digitally and after they are created, they are monetized digitally. The violation of rights in the digital sphere becomes a barrier for the development of the industry,” stressed Yulia Golubeva.

Continuing the discussion on media piracy, Yulia Golubeva mentioned the Anti-Piracy Memorandum. Gazprom-Media Holding and Alexander Zharov, then head of Roskomnadzor, initiated the creation of this document in 2018. Yulia Golubeva noted that while the measures outlined in the Memorandum do not fully solve the problems that exist in regards to media piracy today, its existence is a significant and infrequent example of a successful agreement made between the members of the industry.

“Initially, it was assumed that the Memorandum, which was created in 2018, would transform from a private initiative into law the following year. Three years have passed since then. The new State Duma is expected to make it law in the near future, but self-regulation is still very relevant. Let’s take, as an example, the idea of putting special labels on legal content. This could become a good example of how to improve self-regulation. In conclusion, I would like to emphasise once more that intellectual property for creative industries is not only the product, but also the means of its production, the raw materials and the currency. Transparency in this regard is a necessary condition for growth and development of all activity areas, not only in the artistic industries, but also IT, technologies and science,” said Yulia Golubeva.