Russia's stance on internet development and intellectual property rights differs from that in the final joint declaration of the G8 leaders, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday.
The summit in Deauville was the first G8 summit when discussions on the issue of internet were included in the agenda.
"The declaration reflects an absolutely conservative position that intellectual property rights should be protected according to the existing conventions. No one questions that, but I have repeatedly stated that, unfortunately, those conventions were written 50 or almost 100 years ago, and they are unable to regulate the whole complex of relations between the copyright owner and users," Medvedev said.
He said the existing framework should be adjusted to reflect not only the interests of copyright owners, but also the wishes of the users.
"Unfortunately, this was not included in the declaration because, in my opinion, my colleagues have a more conservative opinion than is necessary at the moment. Or maybe they just don't use the internet and have little understanding of it," the Russian president added.
Medvedev wrote in his Twitter account ahead of the summit that the existing copyright protection systems must be changed. His aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Russia will soon send its proposals to its partners.
National and international legal norms should give a clearer definition of what the legal use of internet products and content is, Dvorkovich said.
DEAUVILLE, May 27 (RIA Novosti)
