All-Union Agency on Copyright
The All-Union Agency for Copyright, VAAP, was a USSR public organization that protected copyright from 1973 to 1991. It was created by the USSR Council of Ministers when the country joined the Universal Copyright Convention (Geneva version of 1952) in 1973; the accession took effect on May 27, 1973. Works published in the USSR before 1973 did not have international copyright protection and could be copied abroad without the author's permission or royalties.
From 1974, VAAP was a member of CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers. VAAP helped found and organize the Moscow Book Fair, which has been held every two years in September since 1977. All licensing contracts with foreign publishers had to go through VAAP; authors and Soviet publishers were not allowed to negotiate directly with foreign publishers. The monopoly ended in 1989 during Perestroika.
VAAP was often seen as a way to control manuscripts flowing to the West (tamizdat) and to prevent hostile publications abroad. The standard VAAP contract also gave the agency the right to control all paratext, including prefaces, notes, and dust-jacket information.
In an open letter dated October 1, 1973, Vladimir Voynovich jokingly suggested renaming VAAP to VAPAP — the All-Union Agency for the Appropriation of Author's Rights. The letter was published abroad in Posev No. 11, 1973, and led to a meeting of the Moscow Writers' Organization, after which Voynovich was expelled from the Writers' Union.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:33 (CET).