The XXI century. The way to resolve disputes between authors and rightholders

On April 23, in the Institute of State and Law of the RAS, Russian experts discussed the latest trends of settlement of disputes in the sphere of intellectual property within the framework of the International Forum “Intellectual Property – the XXI century”. Professor Tamara Abova, Head of Sector of Civil Law, Civil and Arbitration Proceedings of the Institute of State and Law of the RAS, moderated the session. Advocate Denis Shumskiy represented the Law Firm "YUST" and spoke on the sides taken by the courts more often in disputes involving service results of intellectual activity (RIA).

The relations between the employer and the employee-author of the service RIA are still governed by the laws of USSR and differently construed by different courts. The expert also explained:

- In what cases the courts may regard the employer’s actions as abuse of right;
- Whether or not the employer is obliged to pay author’s remuneration to the heirs of the author of the service intellectual property object;
- And how to avoid risks inherent in the necessity to pay unreasonably high remunerations for the use of the service RIA.

Alexander Snegur, Judge of the Court on Intellectual Rights, told about the role of the Court in the settlement of disputes on intellectual rights. Elena Vasilieva, Head Researcher of the Institute of State and Law of the RAS, called the audience’s attention to the situations, when it is possible to limit the exclusive rights to intellectual property objects.

Vladimir Korneev, Head of Public Law and Proceedings department of the HCA of Russia, who took part in the development of the new Part 4 edition of the Civil Code and in the drafting of normative documents of the Court on Intellectual Rights, was able to comment on all those issues.

On the next day of the Forum (April 24 of 2013), at the Congress Center of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Russia, the experts discussed the most acute matters of strategic development of the book production industry. The Intellectual Property Committee of the Chamber was the organizer of the session.

The ways of development and standardization of the book industry, the problems of personnel training and ethical regulation of the publishing house – the event participants were able to express their expert opinion on each one of those problems. Besides the traditional complaints of decreasing numbers of printed copies, the representatives of the business shared their new initiatives. Vladimir Smirnov, General Director of “Signal-Com” LLC, presented the recently created cloud service – the author social network called “Digital Autpograph” created with the use of electronic signature technology. In his report, he examined the issues of the necessity of a “trusted segment” of the Internet, which would enable: reliable identification of users, confirmation of authorship of the materials placed in it and access to those materials from all Internet sources. Advocate Denis Shumskiy of the Law Firm "YUST" commented on his speech by explaining the way, in which the electronic signature technology may help authors to resolve problems of fixation and protection of copyright in the Internet.

The Forum will close on April 26, 2013. Its program is available здесь.