Theory and practice of intellectual property
№ 1 / 2022
ISSN (Print) 2308-0361
ISSN (Online) 2519-2744
PDF (Ukrainian)DOI: https://doi.org/10.33731/12022.258196
Published 2022-06-03
Improvement of Copyright Law of Ukraine in the Context of the Experience of EU Member States
Anna Shtefan
Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2382-4849
Abstract
In Ukraine, the sphere of copyright is regulated by a large number of legislative acts. It includes the Civil Code and the Law ‘On Copyright and Related Rights’, which can be considered as general for relations on the creation and use of works. There are also separate laws on publishing, theater, architecture, media, and other types of activity, which are special in the context of legal regulation of certain aspects of copyright in certain areas. Although such a division of legal rules is of certain logic, at the same time, the domestic ramified system of legislative acts is characterized by duplication of similar provisions in different laws and the presence of collisions, and therefore is not effective enough.
The copyright laws of many EU Member States are based on a structure similar to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Copyright and Related Rights’. At the same time, they differ from it by a higher degree of detail in many provisions. In many Member States, there is a tendency to systematize copyright laws so that they contain all or most of the rules related to the examined area and thus regulate it more fully and comprehensively. In Ukraine, a significant number of such provisions are either stipulated in the legal acts other than the Civil Code and the Law ‘On Copyright and Related Rights’, or are not stipulated at all. In general, copyright laws of many Member States are more systemic in nature.
Some of the approaches adopted in the EU Member States will be useful for reforming the sphere of copyright in Ukraine. This applies, in particular, to specifying the terms of publishing and other contracts in the field of copyright: the general requirements for such contracts are presented in the domestic legislation rather thoroughly, but it contains almost no provisions relating to the specific terms of such contracts. In comparison, the Portuguese Code of Copyright and Related Rights includes 24 articles on the publishing contract, and the Italian Law on Copyright and Other Rights Related to its Exercise contains 18 articles regulating such a contract. In Ukraine, there is only one general provision stipulating that a publishing contract must be concluded in accordance with the law, and one separate provision concerning the need to specify in the license contract the circulation of the reproduction of a work. The rules on peculiarities of copyright inheritance also deserve attention. There are no such rules in Ukrainian legislation at all, and in practice, there can be quite complex problems that are very difficult to solve due to the gaps in the legal regulation.
Therefore, it is advisable to study more deeply the provisions of the domestic legislation of the EU Member States and their experience of legal regulation of copyright relations. This will help to use a more comprehensive and systematic approach to the development of a new edition of the Law ‘On Copyright and Related Rights’ and provide in it the rules necessary to fully and comprehensively regulate the relations on the creation and use of works and protection of relevant rights and interests.
Keywords: legislation, legal regulation, copyright, European Union, intellectual property
References
Цивільний кодекс України від 16 січня 2003 року № 435-IV. ВВР. 2003. № 40-44. Ст. 356.
Про авторське право і суміжні права: Закон України від 23 грудня 1993 р. № 3792-ХІІ. ВВР. 1994. № 13. Ст. 64.
България: Закон за авторското право и сродните му права (ДВ, бр. 56/1993, с изменениями по состоянию на 13.12.2019 г.).
https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/544110
Greece: Law No. 2121/1993 on Copyright, Related Rights and Cultural Matters (as amended up to Law 4761/2020 (Official Government Gazette (FEK) Α’/134/31.07.2021).
https://opi.gr/en/library/law-2121-1993
Finland: Tekijänoikeuslaki 8.7.1961/404 (sellaisena kuin se on muutettuna asetuksella 18.11.2016/972).
https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/467066
Croatia: Copyright and Related Rights Act and Acts on Amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights Act (OG Nos. 167/2003, 79/2007, 80/2011, 141/2013, 127/2014, 62/2017 and 96/2018).
https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/537702
Italy: Legge a protezione del diritto d’autore e di altri diritti connessi al suo esercizio, 22 aprile 1941, n. 633 (Ultimo aggiornamento all’atto pubblicato il 29/11/2021).
https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:1941-04-22;633!vig
Lithuania: Law No. VIII-1185 of May 18, 1999, on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended up to Law No. XII-1183 of October 7, 2014).
https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/349855
Portugal: Código do Direito de Autor e dos Direitos (aprovado pelo Decreto-Lei n.º 63/85 de 14 de março de 1985, e alterado até ao Decreto-Lei n.º 9/2021 de 29 de janeiro de 2021).
https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/583948
Про видавничу справу: Закон України від 05 червня 1997 року №.318/97-ВР. ВВР. 1997. № 32. Ст. 206.
Про театри і театральну справу: Закон України від 31 травня 2005 року № 2605-IV. ВВР. 2005. № 26. Ст. 350.
Про архітектурну діяльність: Закон України від 20 травня 1999 року № 687-ХIV. ВВР. 1999. № 31. Ст. 246.
Про державну реєстрацію авторського права і договорів, які стосуються права автора на твір: Постанова Кабінету Міністрів України від 27 грудня 2001 р. № 1756.
https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1756-2001-%D0%BF#Text
Про охорону прав на промислові зразки: Закон України від 15 грудня 1993 р. № 3688-ХІІ. ВВР. 1994. № 7. Ст. 34.
Estonia: Copyright Act (consolidated text of April 1, 2019).
https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/510476
Про ефективне управління майновими правами правовласників у сфері авторського права і (або) суміжних прав: Закон України від 15 травня 2018 року № 2415-VІІІ. ВВР. 2018. № 32. Ст. 242.
Austria: Bundesgesetz über das Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und der Kunst und über verwandte Schutzrechte (Urheberrechtsgesetz 1936, zuletzt geändert durch das Bundesgesetz BGBI. I Nr. 105/2018).
https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/503811
Poland: Ustawa z dnia 4 lutego 1994 r. o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych (zmieniona ustawa z dnia 13 lutego 2020 r.).
https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/579753
Кодекс України про адміністративні правопорушення від 7 грудня 1984 року № 8073-Х. ВВР Української РСР. 1984. Додаток до № 51. Ст. 1122.
Кримінальний кодекс України від 05 квітня 2001 р. № 2341-ІІІ. ВВР. 2001. № 25-26. Ст. 131.