A shipment of musical Chinese toys hit a sour note at the Russian border when officials seized them and accused their manufacturer of pirating popular songs from Soviet-era cartoons.
Authorities charged the maker of the electronic toys with breaking copyright law for borrowing songs beloved by generations of Russian children without notifying the authors, the daily Noviye Izvestia reported on Wednesday.
Vigilant Siberian customs officials uncovered the violation on Tuesday despite the low quality of the recordings, which made it hard to identify the songs, a spokesperson for Russia’s federal customs service was quoted as saying.
Spokesperson Yekaterina Bondarenko told the newspaper that officials were not impressed by the recordings. The songs were “very simplified”, she said. — AFP