Piracy of intellectual property has been big business in the former republics of the Soviet Union, and frankly, government hasn’t done much to curb it. But local governments are beginning to take the issue more seriously, and the reasons are simple: lost sales and jobs, police raids and expensive legal disputes over famous patents and trademarks, as well as uncollected taxes, excises and customs duties. Conservative estimates place losses to businesses and governments in the Baltic states, Russia and other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States at billions of dollars this year. – Moscow Times