be used amongst Soviet partners for domestic publication, whereas the new licensing scheme was to be employed towards foreign publishers. Upon a decree of August 16, 1973, the "All-Union Agency on Copyrights" (VAAP – ; ) was founded on September 20, 1973. The VAAP replaced the several previously existing collecting societies (such as the VUOAP), taking over their tasks and additionally managing copyrights on foreign works in the USSR and also the copyrights on Soviet works abroad. Officially, the VAAP was a non-governmental organization sponsored by creative unions (such as the Union of Soviet Writers) and seven state organs; but for all practical purposes, it was a state agency. All contracts with foreign publishers had to be concluded through VAAP; authors were forbidden to negotiate directly with foreign publishers. In the standard authors' publishing contracts, an author transferred the right to use the work abroad to the first publisher; and publishers were also obliged to go through VAAP for international copyright deals. The VAAP held the state monopoly on the import and export of copyrights. Only the state organs for cinematography (Goskino, through its Soveksportfilm agency) and television and radio broadcasts (Gosteleradio), as well as the news agency Novosti were exempted from that monopoly, but even they had to register all contracts with foreign partners with VAAP. The accession to the UCC caused a dual system in Soviet copyright law, with the effect that foreign works published after May 27, 1973, were actually granted a stronger copyright protection than Soviet works because for foreign works the definition of the UCC of "publication" applied, which was narrower than the definition of "publication" in Soviet law, which continued to be applied to Soviet works. The duality was also emphasized by the new licensing scheme. In the years following the accession to the UCC, considerable doctrinal confusion ensued amongst Soviet scholars on how to reconcile such dual treatment with the Soviet ideology or ideals. Scholars proposed further changes and clarifications beyond the changes necessary to conform to the UCC. Elst concludes that the accession to the UCC questioned the internal consistency of Soviet law and undermined several of its basic principles, and that the myriad of improvement suggestions by scholars actually caused new legal uncertainties. 1991 Fundamentals Gorbachev's Perestroika also had repercussions on the copyright law. From 1987 to 1990, a number of decrees modified the legislation on copyright and related areas. New