Copyright protection

Contents:

• Types of disputes
• Author’s rights
• Pre-trial dispute settlement
• Pre-trial drafting of a claim
• Jurisdiction of disputes
• Copyright disputes court
• Judicial practice on copyright disputes: high-profile cases
• Valen’s help on copyright disputes

Copyright rights, as a result of inventive activity, belong to the author and are regulated by law. The author is a citizen who has created something in the course of his creative work. The rights include property and personal non-property rights belonging to the owner. In case of divergence of interests with the contractor, the author often has copyright disputes. They are serious and are resolved in a pre-trial or judicial order. Copyright rights are protected by courts of general jurisdiction.

Types of disputes

The level and type of dispute depend on the type of the protected object of the inventive property of the rightsholder.

Personal non-property right may be anything related to the personality of the author. It is not alienated, cannot be transferred to third parties and be the object of transactions.

On the contrary, the exclusive property right allows the author to dispose in full of the product of his work. It can be alienated, sold, transferred, banned. The main thing is that the free disposal of rights when using a patent product as a protected object in order to extract a property interest does not contradict the current legislation.

Author’s rights

The author, as the copyright holder, may file a petition to the court for the restoration of personal property lost/stolen by the contractor or other persons. Documents confirming intellectual property are:

• patent;
• authorship;
• manufacturing secret (know-how);
• invention;
• breeding achievement;
• means of individualization.

Attention! The type of dispute belongs to one or another category of the type of the object of the inventive activity of the author, taken under protection. The above are the ones that are most common in judicial practice.

Pre-trial dispute resolution

In case of infringement of the author’s personal non-property rights, disputes are primarily resolved extrajudicially. The claim stages of dispute settlement must be observed by sending a claim to the violator in written form. The way to resolve the dispute may be:

• payment of compensation;
• compensation for damages.

Pre-trial drafting of a claim

It is important to settle disputes before the court, observing the claim procedure, if the trademark is not used and it is required to terminate its legal protection prematurely. If the author intends to file a claim to a higher authority, then in this case compliance with the pre-trial procedure becomes an optional condition.

Useful information! According to the current legislation, the plaintiff must try to settle the dispute extrajudicially. Without carrying out this settlement procedure, the court may refuse to accept the of claim. If you do not choose the right strategy with your contractor, taking into account his interests, then the work done can be reduced to zero. Never reach a compromise with the conflicting party and lose the partnership forever.

Practice shows that legal entities and individuals resolve disputes over the return of the author’s personal non-property rights, starting with the claim correspondence. The plaintiff draws up a document indicating the sender’s contacts and addressee, the object of which is protected by law. The form of the violation is prescribed in the correspondence. The complaint may be a proportionately obtained benefit of the contractor from the illegal possession of the author’s object (means of individualization) or the need to terminate the violation with the payment of compensation.

Jurisdiction of disputes

Tangible and intangible benefits, innovation proposals of a bona fide acquirer are subject to jurisdiction, i.e. the author has the right to defend his object in order to freely dispose of and conduct such transactions as:

• alienation;
• sale;
• distribution;
• prohibition or permission for use by third parties.

Personal non-property rights cannot be alienated or be the object of transactions. After all, they are directly related to the identity of the copyright holder. But they can be protected in case of violations by filing a claim to court and thereby:

• restore the patent or recognize the validity;
• submit a petition for compensation for moral damage;
• to stop actions if they pose a threat to the violation of the right.

If the author intends to protect his creative successes, in which he has the right to freely dispose of the product of his activity and extract property interest from it, then he can impose the following requirements on others:

• compensation of losses;
• restoration of lost rights;
• withdrawal of the material carrier;
• suppression of those actions that violate the law.

Reference! The jurisdiction of disputes is determined taking into account their subject composition, the claims of the plaintiff. Litigation for the protection of the authorship and patent of the plaintiff is settled by the court of general jurisdiction. Entrepreneurs usually apply to Arbitration if a dispute arises between them due to misunderstandings in cases of commercial seizure of objects of intellectual property. In particular, a specialized court for the protection of intellectual property rights may be created. He deals with the consideration of certain categories of copyright disputes of different instances, including first, appeal or cassation.

Copyright disputes court

Disputes on copyright, patent and related rights are settled by the Arbitration Court. This is the competent authority of the first instance. It can act as appeal or cassation instance.

The plaintiff has the right to write an application to the Arbitration for consideration of a case on challenging normative/non-normative legal acts. If it is necessary to resolve a dispute about the termination or provision of legal custody on the results of one’s own intelligence and means of individualization.

There are cases when the Federal Service for Intellectual Property is inactive. The court must defend the rights of the owner of intellectual creativity. He has the right to file a claim for consideration of the following cases:

• on the establishment and recognition of the patent holder;
• on termination of legal protection of a trademark ahead of time in case of its non-use;
• on the recognition of an interesting model, industrial design, patent for an invention as invalid.

Plaintiffs, respondents of creative disputes may be citizens and legal organizations. The arbitration court has the right to examine not only misunderstandings about intellectual activity, but also cases of challenging/annulling non-legal acts of authorities or acts of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, if the case is related to the acquisition and application of a patent. Also, the plaintiff may request the establishment of legal protection for the result of his activities or challenge the acts of executive authorities working in this area.

Judicial practice on copyright disputes: high-profile cases

Let’s consider a number of real-life examples that have arisen in connection with disputes of large organizations in Russia.

Example 1. The copyright holder (licensor) has lost personal priority for the use of the journal in the field of management. With a claim, he visited the court in order to restore his rights, return the money invested by subscribers. The copyright property rights court was won. The licensee returned to the client all the necessary money and materials due to the fact that the provisions of the law were applied correctly. The correct database has been compiled, and legal qualifications have been applied to the journal.

Example 2. The lawsuit of the ALPHABET of TASTE against the REGISTRAR P0 was subject to consideration. As a result, the judicial commission made a decision to terminate the domain delegation. The domain administrator was obliged to stop using the domain name for selfish purposes. The requirements of the ALPHABET of TASTE on the cancellation of the domain were fully satisfied.

Example 3. In 2018, a pharmaceutical company filed a lawsuit to the Arbitration court for legal protection of a trademark due to its non-use. The company was engaged in the production of biologically active additives in food. The subject of the dispute was that dietary supplements were produced with similar three-dimensional trademarks. As a result, the company managed to continue production. The grounds for termination of the legal protection of the trademark were fully proven.

Valen’s help on copyright disputes

Valen Consulting Company provides comprehensive legal assistance to its clients in resolving copyright disputes. Our specialists offer transparent terms of the transaction using cloud technologies and advanced software. We will provide the following services upon request:

• we will provide consultations on issues of Russian law;
• we will analyze the situation, compare the facts and determine the effectiveness of the measures taken;
• we will find the right way to protect inventive assets;
• we will stand up for the protection of the authorship object even in the conditions of ambiguous judicial practice.

Valen specialists will be able to resolve controversial and conflicting issues. To take the right actions for the pre-trial settlement of the dispute or initiate a case by applying to the court for the protection of intellectual property rights.