In the Russian Federation, computer programs are not patented, as in the United States, but are protected as objects of copyright (Article 1259 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
On the one hand, it’s good, because The copyright to the program arises from the developer immediately upon writing the code. Undergo a special procedure or perform any other formalities to confirm authorship is not required.
On the other hand, without additional proof of authorship, the developer may encounter difficulties if he wants to profit from his development or in order to protect his work from encroachment.
In the first case, the author needs a documentary proof of authorship in order to draw up an agreement on the transfer of exclusive rights to a third party. The author owns the exclusive right to his program, i.e. he can do anything with it that does not contradict the current legislation: add new modules, copy, distribute and so on. However, if the author wishes to transfer the exclusive right to a third party, then he must first obtain a certificate of registration of the program. As otherwise controversial situations may arise, for example, with co-authors who may want to get their share of the sale and will sue.
In court, such evidence will help to assert their rights to the program and free themselves from the claims of those who were not involved in the development. And also seek compensation from the defendant for violation of rights (Article 1301 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). For example, in a situation of using code in another project.
You can register the object immediately to a third party, or first make the program in under your own name, and then transfer the exclusive right to the new copyright holder under the transfer agreement.
To register a computer program, it is necessary to submit an application to Rospatent during the period of the exclusive right to work.
One application is submitted for one program, including:
- an application for registration indicating the copyright holder, as well as the author, if he did not refuse to be mentioned as such, and their location (place of residence);
- materials identifying the computer program, including an abstract.
A receipt for the payment of the duty is attached to the application.
After the documents have passed the check for compliance with the requirements stipulated by clause 2 of Article 1222 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the program will be entered in the Computer Program Registry, and a certificate of state registration will be issued to the copyright holder.