Intellectual property protection in the TMT sector
Legal services for the protection of intellectual property in the TMT sector (technology, media and telecommunications)
In view of the specifics of the digital economy, as well as in connection with the active development of information technologies, it is quite common to infringe the intellectual rights of bona fide participants in legal relations in the TMT sector. In particular, with an increase in the volume of information posted on the Internet or distributed in other ways through information technology, there is an increasing need to develop the most optimal mechanisms for protecting copyright and other intellectual rights.
The specialists of BRACE are highly qualified in the field of intellectual property rights protection, actively monitor the very rapidly changing legislation in the IT sector, and also use an individual approach to considering each legal situation using non-standard methods of solving the assigned tasks.
Features and methods of protection of intellectual rights
The main types of intellectual rights requiring protection in the TMT sector include:
- copyright (since there are often cases of plagiarism and / or resale of works of science, literature and art, soft, etc.);
- related rights;
- patent rights to inventions, utility models, industrial designs;
- know-how;
- trademarks, company names.
The main ways to protect intellectual property rights include:
- use of technical means preventing admission;
- confidentiality agreements;
- internal policies;
- registration of patent rights;
- pretrial procedure;
- trial procedure.
A feature of the protection of intellectual property rights in IT sector is the transnational nature of violations, which requires knowledge of not only national legislation, but also the law of the country where the offense was committed, as well as international law.
IT, media and telecommunications are characterized by increased risks of infringement of intellectual rights due to the openness of the information space. Often, the difficulty of proving an infringement of intellectual property rights is caused by the very rapid “removal” of materials and other documents/information by the infringers, which may become material evidence of violations. It is also not always easy to identify the person responsible for the violation of intellectual property rights.
One of the ways to prove the illegal use of certain materials on the Internet site is to promptly contact a notary, who has the right to draw up a protocol of the site inspection, fixing the placement of this or that information on it as of the specific date of the site inspection.
In some cases, proving the copyright for a work posted on the Internet can be very laborious and require building a strategy for protecting violated rights with an assessment of all possible risks depending on the behavior of the person committing the violation.
Also, cases of copyright protection for brand names and trademarks posted on the Internet and become well-known can be especially difficult, because refusal to use them, or illegal use by third parties, may cause losses.
In this regard, a special role is played not only by the construction of a line of protection for already violated intellectual rights, but also by the adoption of preventive measures aimed at protecting them and preventing violations from occurring.
Legal protection of software
According to Art. 1261 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a program for computers (software) is an objectively presented set of data and commands intended for the operation of computers and other computer devices to obtain a certain result, including preparatory materials obtained during the development of a program for computers, and the audiovisual displays generated by it.
The software can be registered with Federal Service on intellectual property. Such registration is made solely at the request of the copyright holder and is not his obligation. In fact, copyright for all types of computer programs (including operating systems and software complexes) that can be expressed in any language and in any form, including the source text and object code, are protected in the same way as copyright for works of literature. At the same time, copyright does not apply to ideas, concepts, principles, methods, processes, systems, methods, solutions to technical, organizational or other problems, discoveries, facts, programming languages.
Despite the fact that registration of copyright for software makes it possible to protect the rights to software from its complete copying, partial reproduction / copying of software is possible. In this regard, the protection of the software algorithm is of particular importance. The software algorithm is protected by patenting. The procedure for obtaining a patent is more time-consuming than registering software with Federal Service on intellectual property, but it is thanks to it that it becomes impossible to patent software developments that are confusingly similar to already patented software.
To choose the best way to protect intellectual property rights to software, an individual consideration of software characteristics and an individual approach to the developer's needs are required.
Legal services
- Comprehensive support for the use, transfer, protection of intellectual property rights in the TMT sector
- Legal analysis and development of licensing agreements and other types of agreements regulating the protection of intellectual rights
- Protecting the interests of IT companies and organizations working in the field of media and telecommunications in the event of disputes over intellectual rights (both pre-trial stage and through representation of interests in court)
- Protection of the rights and interests of clients in Federal Service on intellectual property and the Federal Institute of Industrial Property
- Advising a client on the current legislation on the protection of intellectual property, taking into account the specifics of legal regulation in the field of technology, media and telecommunications
- Assessment of legal risks and development of the most acceptable strategy for the protection of intellectual property rights in the TMT sector
