Piracy of Movies, Music & Software of ‘Unfriendly’ Nations Is Now Legal in Belarus

Rightsholder permission will not be required for content to be used in Belarus because Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has signed a new law that legalizes piracy of movies, music, TV shows and software owned by rightsholders from ‘unfriendly countries’. The law also allows goods protected by intellectual property law to be imported from any country without obtaining permission from rightsholders.

Adopted by the House of Representatives (lower house) on December 20, 2022, and the Council of the Republic (upper house) a day later, Lukashenko signed its provisions into law on January 3, 2023.

This law will come into force this week and remain in place until December 31, 2024.