Information resources and copyright: First copyright market to be mounted in Runet

Alexei Kuzmin, the organizer of the “LitRes” eBooks website, has been being engaged into the preparatory work on the new project. The plan is to create an online-market of copyrights, which will unite functions of a social network and a system of catalogues and auctions with an electronic signature. The market is likely to be launched in August, timed to the Moscow International Book Fair opening.

The key plan of Alexei Kuzmin is to provide a common platform for publishing companies, book Internet shops, aggregating copyright agents and other possessors of rights, who will get an opportunity to become either copyright sellers or purchasers. The project will be first and foremost oriented towards Internet content. Initial investments total 30–40 mil. rubles, aggregate investments are currently estimated to make $5–7 mil. The market will be backed by fees of participants, on average amounting to 20–30 thousand rubles per year, as well as payments for each completed deal totaling 10 rubles. The project should reach breakeven point after two years.

This week the Ministry of Justice is going to complete registration of a non-profit partnership “Intellectual Property Rights Federation” (FIPR), which welcomes for participation only “professional participants of the market”, unlike separate authors. Among its partners are the Russian State Library, “Russian copyright society “Kopirus” and the owner of the edu-all.ru electronic library - Ltd. “Ilosvet”. Alexei Kuzmin will become the Director General of the partnership, the Chairman of the Board will be the Head of “Kopirus” - Vasily Terletsky. In two years the organizers hope that the number of FIPR partners will reach 2500–3500.

According to Kuzmin, physical books’ publishers will be also able to benefit from the work of the market. Small publishing companies, which don’t have personnel or financial resources for a legal support and copyright agreements execution, are going to have considerable cost savings due to introduction of electronic signature system.