MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - More than 1,000 intellectual property cases have been filed in the Russian court system this year, a senior federal official said Thursday.

Boris Simonov, the head of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents, and Trademarks, said more than 300 people had been convicted on intellectual property violations this year. "Eight people were sentenced to prison and 200 received suspended sentences."

He also cited foreign experts saying fake goods accounted for 90% in some spheres.

"Russia is currently preparing to join the WTO," Simonov said. "The failure to protect copyright is one of the serious claims against Russia, specifically on the part of the United States."

"Foreign experts say in their countries fake goods account for only 25%-30% of the market," he added. "They think we are causing damage worth billions of dollars to foreign producers."

According to Simonov, if foreign experts believe that the level of fake goods in Russia is really so high, they should name the copyright violators.

The official also said the price gap between licensed and fake products in Russia had almost disappeared.

"We managed to persuade foreign companies, including American disk producers, to cut their prices in Russia," Simonov said. "This has partially helped to reduce the volume of fake products."

He said, however, that there had been no serious changes in the situation regarding fake goods in Russia.