Russia will shortly have a single agency responsible for regulating intellectual property rights.
Quoting the head of the new agency, The Moscow Times reports that it will replace over 20 government departments that currently and ineffectively enforce copyright in the country.
The new agency will be formed on the basis of the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), which is responsible for registering patents and property rights, with all other government agencies transferring their functions to it by the end of this year.
It will be headed by Grigory Ivliyev, who has only been in charge at Rospatent since earlier this month, having previously been at the Ministry of Culture.
President Putin pointed out in 2013 that while intellectual property accounted for no more than 1% of GDP in Russia, the figure in neighbouring Finland was 20%.
