Copyright - a set of rights, both property and non-property (they are also called spiritual), owned by a person (author, that is, an individual) who, through his creative work, created a work of literature, science or art.
Only in the early 70s, the economic aspects of this right began to be discussed in science. So far, copyright does not have the same meaning for economists as the patent system has. Therefore, the importance of such protection is often underestimated from an economic point of view.
One of the main reasons for this situation is that initially copyright and the idea of protecting them developed mainly as a legal and social system. But as humanity evolved and the importance of information grew, copyright, as part of intellectual property, gradually became the most important intangible economic asset of the information society. Today, it is no longer considered solely a category of law, but is regarded as an integral part of the assets of firms and the wealth of countries. The concept of copyright serves as the basis for the development of various industries, contributes to the growth of value added, foreign trade and jobs. According to some reports, the share of industries based on it in the world economy at the beginning of the millennium amounted to about 7.3% (about 2.2 trillion dollars). Moreover, the growth in these areas is an average of 5% per year, that is, faster than the average growth of the entire economy of the planet.
Sources of Copyright
The growing importance of this right was also the result of the expansion of the environment in which it operates. In 1996, international copyright was recorded in two documents: two WIPO Internet treaties (the Performances and Phonograms Agreement and the Copyright Agreement) were adopted, after which, with the help of the national legislation of the respective countries, it began to be applied to economic transactions in various computer digital networks. This gave an impetus to the interaction and exchange of experience, strengthening the economic effect of this type of law. Local copyright sources have also appeared. The development of technology, in addition, has allowed the introduction of new forms of management, which are less expensive and more accurate, with the help of special technical protection measures. Thanks to these technologies, sales of copyrighted products have increased.
It has become an integral part of everyday life, and today we work with forms of creativity that twenty years ago were difficult to even imagine. Copyrighted products today include most of the business.
Rights Categories
Copyrights and their objects are divided into several categories:
- property and non-property rights;
- exclusive and non-exclusive rights.
A person who holds copyright to a particular object that is exclusive has the sole right to use it and may prohibit third parties from using this object. Exclusive rights to a work arise when the author has not transferred them (that is, has not concluded an agreement on the transfer of exclusive rights) to other persons.
Non-exclusive right means that the person possessing it can use the object of law created by the holder of exclusive rights, along with him and other persons authorized to use it in the same way. Non-exclusive rights arise when a copyright agreement is created, unless expressly provided otherwise.
Non-property rights are personal rights (you cannot perform transactions with them as with property: buy, sell, transfer, give, inherit, etc.).
Registration and copyright protection
This right is one of the ways to protect intellectual property, that is , it represents a set of rules of law, relations on the creation and use of various works of culture, science and art.
The term of copyright is throughout the life of the author, as well as within 70 years immediately after his death. The right to a name, the right of authorship and to protect the reputation of the creator of a work are protected indefinitely.
Such registration exists in order to show that at its moment the object of law exists objectively. This can come in handy for copyright protection in a conflict of interest. In all countries covered by the Berne Convention on Copyright, the rights to objects created by residents of Russia are protected, regardless of whether they were registered or the place of registration.
International copyright law, as well as the copyright law of the Russian Federation, do not require its registration for protection. However, if you need to show that the object at the time of registration existed objectively, you can register these legal relations in the Russian copyright society. If copyright is violated, the case must be considered in the country where the violation occurred.
Subjects of Copyright
The subjects are:
1) the author himself;
2) the successors of the author, that is, the person to whom copyright has passed from him for some legal reasons (contract, inheritance), in particular the publisher of the work;
3) translator (for own translation).
There is a difference between the law of the author himself and his successors - the law of the former is unlimited, and for the latter it is limited to a certain period.
Copyright Objects
On the basis of article number 1259 of the Civil Code of our state, the objects to which copyright is applied in Russia are works of literature, science and art, regardless of their purpose, as well as their merits and form of expression.
These include:
- derivative works, that is, being a processing of another work;
- composite, arising from the creative work of locating or selecting materials.
In Russia, both publicly disclosed and non-disclosed works are expressed in any objective form, including oral and written (for example, in the form of public performance, utterance, etc.), in the form of images, video and sound recordings, as well as in volume - spatial form.
Signs of objects
It should be noted that the objects of this right have specific characteristics:
- the creative nature of the creation;
- the objective form of his expression.
That is, the object must be created precisely as a result of creative work and fixed on some material medium (in the form of an image, written, video or sound recording, spatial) or expressed verbally, but always in the form of a public speech.
That is, for example, water patterns created as a result of the author’s creative work, which can be observed during the work of the fountain, will not be the subject of copyright. They protect only the fountain itself, since it has a three-dimensional objective form (stone, metal), and water patterns do not have it.
Another example: simply the technical collection of materials is not the result of creative work, therefore its result is not considered the object of this type of law. Music without copyright is, for example, collections of the best songs of a particular group.
Types of objects
So, on the basis of article number 1259 of the Civil Code of our country, the following are considered objects of copyright:
- works of literature;
- musical-dramatic, dramatic and scripted works;
- pantomimes and choreographic performances;
- musical works, both with text and without it;
- audiovisual;
- works of sculpture, painting, design, graphics, comics, graphic stories and other works of fine art;
- objects of scenographic and decorative art;
- works of urban planning, architecture, landscape gardening art, which include drawings, projects and layouts;
- objects of photographic art and others obtained in a similar way;
- various geological, geographical and other maps, sketches, plans, plastic works related to topography, geography and other sciences.
The concept of copyright extends to various programs created for computers. But, unlike other objects, the rights to them can be registered in the federal executive body working with intellectual property objects. Registration is optional and is at the request of the owner.
Also, translations and other derivative works of existing objects are protected by copyright.
For example, the author wrote a novel, and the director made a film based on his plot, in which case the director is the owner of copyright for the adaptation of the novel as a derivative work.
Similarly, a translator, creating a work in a language other than the original, has copyright for its own translation. The translation itself, like the original, is an independent object.
Not only the whole work has copyright, but also its part, name, character, if their character can be recognized as the result of the independent creative work of its creator.
For example, the character of Harry Potter, as well as part of the title of the book, are copyrighted by J.K. Rowling along with the rights to the text of the work.
Copyright objects do not include:
- official documents of local governments, as well as various state ones, including laws, other regulations, materials of an administrative, legislative and judicial nature, court decisions, official documents of various international organizations and their official translations;
- signs and symbols belonging to the state (emblems, flags, banknotes, orders, etc.), as well as signs and symbols of municipal institutions;
- folklore (works of folk art), which has no specific authors, for example, music without copyright - these are folk songs;
- informational messages about facts and events (TV programs, news of the day, timetables of various vehicles, etc.).
It should be said that copyrights do not have concepts, ideas, methods, principles, systems, processes, options for solving organizational, technical and other problems, facts, discoveries, programming languages.
Copyright sign
The sign "copyright protection" is as follows - ©.
This is the Latin letter C (from the word "copyright", meaning "copyright"), placed in the middle of the circle. Along with this designation, the sign (c) is used - the letter C in parentheses.
This copyright notice is used next to the name of the legal or natural person who owns the copyright. This sign may also indicate the object of protection, indicate the date range or year of publication.
The mark "copyright protection" in itself does not create additional rights. It merely indicates that the rights to a particular object belong to the indicated legal or natural person.
The absence of this sign does not mean that this work is not protected, since rights arise independently due to the fact of the creation of a work. In order for it to be protected by copyright, registration or other formalities are not required.
Also, the presence or absence of such a mark does not affect licensing.
Copyright protection
Their appearance is directly related to the very fact of creating the object of law.
In the legislation of our country there is no special procedure for registering authorship rights to a work, with the exception of registering them with computer programs. The author, according to the law, is the one who created the object, and he has the following rights:
1) the exclusive right to the work itself;
2) authorship;
3) the right to a name;
4) the inviolability of the work;
5) to make it public.
Technical means for copyright protection
There are special technical means designed to protect this type of rights. These include any technology, as well as technical devices and their components, which control access to a particular work and restrict or prevent actions not authorized by its author or other copyright holder in relation to this object.
Copyright information
She considers any information that identifies the work, the author or other copyright holder, as well as on the conditions of use of the object of law contained in the original or copy of the work, appears as a result of broadcasting or by other means of bringing the work to the public, is attached to it, as well as any codes and numbers that contain similar information.
The author also has property rights to:
1) distribution;
2) reproduction;
3) translation;
4) import;
5) processing;
6) public performance;
7) public display;
8) broadcasting;
9) cable communication for the general public.
Immediately after creating the work, the author needs to have proof that he possessed it on a specific date. In case of disputes, this will help a lot. Such evidence can be obtained using a special procedure called deposit. Its essence is the acceptance for storage of a copy of a work, as well as fixing the date of its provision with the participation of a notary. After that, a certificate of deposit will be issued. Using this procedure, you can document the availability of an instance for a certain date. Such evidence is the most reliable protection in the matter of copyright.
Copyright infringement
Their violation may result in administrative, civil and even criminal liability. It often happens that copyright infringement occurs out of ignorance. Therefore, it is recommended to notify third parties about them using the following formula: sign "copyright protection" + name of the author (copyright holder) + year of publication or its period. However, according to the law, it is not necessary to notify the authorship right or to use the proposed format.