Musicians: Copyright Protection
In a market economy, issues related to the civil turnover of intellectual property, the legal protection of intellectual property (IPO), the protection of the rights of authors and copyright holders are relevant. The need to ensure reliable protection of intellectual property, protection of the rights of authors inside the country and strengthening the protection of the interests of Russian right holders abroad is stated in the Address of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of 10.05.2006.
Moreover, as practice shows, most of the disputes that are considered by the courts of the Russian Federation are disputes over the protection of violated rights, the claim for protection for OICs created and used.
Speaking about the existing possibilities of protection and restoration of violated rights, it is necessary to dwell on issues related to the creation of results of intellectual activity (RID), the conditions for granting them legal protection, as well as documentary confirmation by the authors and / or copyright holders of their rights in relation to RID. So, in the presence of a certain set of documents, it can be concluded that an object declared as a work is not, for example, plagiarism, a “work of folk art” or an “official document”, but the person indicated as the author is indeed the author of this work, and he owns personal non-property and exclusive (property) rights to the work.
Of course, when the necessary documents are available, the procedure for proving one’s rights with respect to the disputed object is simplified, which has its significance in concluding intellectual property insurance contracts, as well as in defending one’s rights in court; the economic turnover of the OIP is simplified (when concluding pledge agreements, transfer of exclusive rights, as well as the legality of attributing to intangible assets, etc.). Also, it is much easier to prove your rights in relation to works or exclusive rights, for example, if we are talking about the enforcement of intellectual property.
The problem of establishing and confirming the fact of creation of a work acquires its significance at the moment when the issue of acquiring one or another RID is being decided, about investing money to continue to receive income from exploiting the acquired and / or created work or owning property rights to them, i. e. generally speaking – about financing, crediting of intellectual activity.
As practice shows, the main problems encountered in the resolution of disputes on the legal protection of OIP arise with respect to copyright objects – works.
The work refers to the RID, is part of the objects of civil rights, referred to as intellectual property. RID includes know-how, invention, utility model, industrial design, trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin and integrated circuits topology (Art. 1338 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
The basis of all disputes is the question of whether the controversial object relates to the work and, as a consequence, is it subject to copyright protection?
So, in the resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation No. 8911/05 of February 14, 2006, it is necessary for courts to determine the method of protection of the right and the need to apply measures of responsibility to the violator: what kind of works are objects.
Answering the question whether a controversial object is a work, one has to simultaneously respond to questions concerning the signs that the RIA must possess in order to relate it to the work, and moreover, to the work subject to copyright protection.
Analyzing the regulatory legal acts governing the provision of legal protection of OIC, it can be concluded that with respect to individual OIC, the lawmaker decided that some of them must have distinctiveness, be original, new, have an inventive step, and for others it is enough the result of creative activity that exists in an objective form.
Thus, according to the Patent Law, legal protection is granted to the invention, if it is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. Legal protection is provided to the utility model only if it is new and has industrial applicability. Industrial design – if it is new and original.
In accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin”, legal protection is not granted to those trademarks that do not have distinctiveness. Designations that are identical or similar to the extent of confusion with official names and images of especially valuable objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation, or objects of world cultural or natural heritage, as well as with images of cultural values stored in collections are not registered as trademarks.
