TASS is a major news agency in Russia and one of the largest globally, providing news, analysis, and multimedia resources to subscribers worldwide. It dates back to 1904 and covers a wide range of topics, including politics, economy, culture, and sports. TASS is known for its domestic and international news coverage, offering insights from a Russian perspective.

In Moscow, Russia. Since the 90s, it is called ITAR-TASS.

Under caselaw precedent established in Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier the copyright ownership would be determined under UK law and US copyright law would be used to judge the extent of the (alleged) infringement.

So the maximum term of imprisonment would be 10 years and the maximum statutory fine would be $150,000.00 USD.

(see related links for a summary of Itar v. Kurier and provisions for relief under US Copyright law.)

It was the Torgovo-Telegrafnoye Agentstvo (Russian for "Commercial-Telegraphic Agency), established in 1902 in Saint Petersburg, then the capital of Russia. It was turned into the Saint Petersburg Telegraphic Agency in 1904 (renamed Petrograd Telegraphic Agency when the city itself changed its name in 1914), then the Russian Telegraphic Agency (ROSTA) in 1918, the Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) in 1925, and finally Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS) in 1994. But, essencially, it's the same agency founded in 1902.

Pravda and tass were news agencies in the U.S.S.R designed to keep the russian public ignorant.