This book traces the impact of the economic and political perestroika on the copyright law of the late USSR and the Russian Federation. The transformation of the administrative command economy into a market economy, the introduction of the rule of law and the adoption of a natural-law-view on human rights, the revolution in cultural policy, all influenced both the contents and the function of copyright law for the authors, entertainment and information industries and the consumers. The book provides a detailed analysis of the freedom of expression, and of copyright legislation in Russia, always with an eye on historic comparisons and evolutions . At the same time it gives a synthetic overview of the main changes in constitutional, civil and economic law in the last 15 years.