The Internet has cut the share of pirated audio and video products to between 15 percent and 20 percent of the total market, a spokesman for the main economic security department of the Interior Ministry said Thursday.

"Counterfeiters are winding down their activities because it is no longer lucrative," he said.

Pirated software use is down to 80 percent, 7 percent less than in the past. Only 60 percent of Microsoft products in use are pirated. Counterfeit branded clothing accounts for 37 percent of all sales, while the share of counterfeit cosmetics, perfume, other clothes, household chemicals and foods is 15 percent to 30 percent. Most counterfeit products come from Southeast Asia — China, Singapore, India and other countries — and Bulgaria, Turkey, Poland and Ukraine. "Counterfeit manufacturing in Russia is insignificant," the spokesman said.

(Interfax)