What threatens the people of Kazakhstan with the adoption of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 12, 2012 No. 537-IV

After the entry into force of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 12, 2012 No. 537-IV “On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Intellectual Property Issues”, a panic began in Kaznet. One by one, popular torrent trackers and other file sharing sites are closed. Internal peer network of local urban networks is empty. The share of domestic Kazakhstan traffic is falling. Information and news sites reprint articles from each other, often with gross errors, pulling quotes out of context, not referring to the original source and letter of the law, causing panic and hysteria in the comments. Forums are seething with outrage and anger.
In this article I want to tell you about the changes in the articles for violations of the “law on intellectual property”, the penalties provided for in these articles and what this may threaten ordinary users.

Attention! Many letters and legal terms ;-)
')

Basically, this publication is for those who do not really understand the laws and articles, as well as those who simply have no time or too lazy to seek out, separate and study articles and amendments.
So let's go. On the basis of the new law, amendments were made to:

Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 16, 1997 No. 167-I (with amendments and additions as of January 18, 2012)

“Article 184. Violation of Copyright and / or Related Rights”

1. Assignment of authorship or coercion to co-authorship, if this act caused significant harm to the rights or legitimate interests of the author or other rightholder, including causing significant damage, is punishable by a fine in the amount of one hundred to five hundred monthly calculation indices or by engaging in public works for a term from one hundred to one hundred eighty hours, or restriction of freedom for up to two years.

2. Illegal use of copyright and (or) related rights, as well as the acquisition, storage, transfer or manufacture of counterfeit copies of copyright and (or) related rights for marketing purposes, committed in significant amounts - shall be punished with a fine of from five hundred to seven hundred monthly calculation indices either by engaging in public works for a period of one hundred eighty to two hundred and forty hours, or by restriction of freedom for a period of up to one year.

3. Illegal use of copyright and (or) related rights by organizing, creating Internet resources for further access to the exchange, storage, transfer of copies of works and (or) objects of related rights in an electronic digital format that caused significant damage - shall be punished with a fine in in the amount of from six hundred to eight hundred monthly calculation indices either by engaging in public works for a period of from two hundred to two hundred and forty hours, or by restricting freedom for up to one year.

4. The acts provided for in the second and third parts of this article, committed:
a) repeatedly;
b) by a group of persons by prior agreement or by an organized group;
c) on a large scale or causing major damage;
d) by a person using his official position - shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of two to five years, with or without confiscation of property.

Notes.

1. The acts provided for in Articles 184, 184-1 of this Code are recognized as causing significant damage or committed in a significant amount if the amount of damage or the value of rights to use intellectual property or the cost of copies of copyright objects and (or) related rights or goods, containing inventions, utility models, industrial designs, selection achievements or topologies of integrated circuits are a hundred times the monthly calculated index established by the legislation of Kazakhstan at the time of the crime

2. The acts provided for in Articles 184, 184-1 of this Code shall be recognized as causing major damage or committed on a large scale if the amount of damage or the value of rights to use intellectual property or the cost of copies of copyright objects and (or) related rights or goods, containing inventions, utility models, industrial designs, selection achievements or topologies of integrated circuits, five hundred times higher than the monthly calculated indicator established by the legislation of the Republic of iki Kazakhstan at the time of the crime.

Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offenses of January 30, 2001 No. 155-II (with amendments and additions as of January 13, 2012)


“Article 129. Violation of copyright and (or) related rights”

1. Illegal use of objects of copyright and (or) related rights, as well as the acquisition, storage, transfer or manufacture of counterfeit copies of objects of copyright and (or) related rights, except for use on the Internet, for marketing, appropriation of authorship or coercion to co-authorship, if these actions do not contain signs of a criminal offense, - entail a fine on individuals in the amount of from ten to fifteen, on officials - in the amount from twenty to thirty, on legal entities - in the amount re from one hundred to one hundred fifty monthly calculation indices with confiscation of copies of objects of copyright and (or) related rights, as well as objects that were instruments of committing an offense ...

2. The actions provided for in the first part of this article, committed repeatedly within a year after the imposition of an administrative penalty, entail a fine on individuals in the amount of from fifteen to twenty, on officials - in the amount of from thirty to fifty, on legal entities - in the amount from one hundred fifty to two hundred monthly calculation indices with confiscation of copies of objects of copyright and (or) related rights, as well as objects that were instruments of committing an offense.

3. Illegal use of objects of copyright and (or) related rights by posting on the Internet in order to provide access to an unlimited number of persons, if this action does not contain signs of a criminal offense, is a warning.

4. Illegal use of objects of copyright and (or) related rights by organizing, creating Internet resources for further access to the exchange, storage, movement of copies of works and (or) objects of related rights in electronic format, if this action does not contain signs of a criminal offense acts, imposes a fine on individuals in the amount of from ten to fifteen, on officials - in the amount of from twenty to thirty, on legal entities - in the amount of from one hundred to one hundred fifty monthly calculated figures with confiscation ation of copies of objects of copyright and (or) related rights, as well as objects that were instruments of committing an offense.

5. The actions provided for in the third and fourth parts of this article, repeated within a year after the imposition of an administrative penalty, entail a fine on individuals in the amount of from fifteen to twenty, on officials in the amount of from thirty to fifty, and on legal entities - in the amount of from one hundred fifty to two hundred monthly calculated indicators with confiscation of copies of objects of copyright and (or) related rights, as well as objects that were instruments of committing an offense.

***

Let's summarize a little. In principle, the devil is not so terrible as he is painted, although the share of enchanting nonsense is still present, and in some places it takes precedence over common sense.
This law practically does not apply to the common user and is intended primarily to toughen penalties for those distributing these works for profit, such as traders in markets, stalls and shops, as well as owners of underground workshops for the manufacture of pirated products.
The same law is intended to “strangle” popular large Kazakhstani websites created for the distribution and exchange of “objects protected by the law on copyright and (or) related rights”.
Who needs it? No one needs to. But apparently due to the crackdown and the global fight against piracy (windmills), the head of state of the Republic of Kazakhstan decided not to lag behind his foreign counterparts.
I foresee a multiple drop in domestic Kazakhstani traffic and a sickly replenishment of the state budget.
I do not urge to continue pumping and distributing, I just want to say that there is no need to panic, pack things and steal a tractor ;-)



Let me remind you that three departments will immediately monitor the execution of the law - the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Financial Police.

And finally, the proverb - "The law that turned the pole as turned, and left"

For information.

In the Republic of Kazakhstan, as of 01/01/12, the following rates apply:
MCI (minimum calculation index) 1618 tenge
MW (minimum wage) 17439 tenge
BDO (base salary) 17696 tenge

The exchange rate as of 08.02.2012, 1 Russian ruble - 4.95 tenge

The following materials were used in writing the article: Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offenses of January 30, 2001 No. 155-II and the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan of July 16, 1997 No. 167-I