Copyright in the Russian Federation

Copyright is a set of legislative norms, which are designed to regulate civil legal relations on the recognition of authorship and protection of works, which relate to literature, science, art or personal property rights of the author.

Copyright is assigned if it is the result of a creative work that is expressed in an objective format. Creativity is considered to be a thinking, mental and intellectual activity, the result of which is represented in a created work.

Objects of the author's rights

All creations and works (published and unpublished) presented in an objective form are eligible for copyright:

• oral;
• written;
• video and sound recordings;
• images;
• reports of facts/events that have informative properties.

The rights of the author cannot be assigned to ideas, methods, processes, systems, facts, discoveries, methods, principles.

The power of copyright:

• the exclusive right of authorship to the work;
• the right to a name (allows one to publish under one's own name/pseudonym or without a signature);
• the right to be published in any publishing house;
• the right to protect the material, from any alteration whatsoever.

The person who wrote the work owns a personal and proprietary right that allows him to do with his work as he wishes and to allow outside parties to implement a range of actions:

• repeat and distribute copies of the work;
• perform the work in public (theatrical and concert stages);
• translate the work into different languages;
• rework the work.

If a third party has performed one of these actions without the author's permission, his act is regarded as a violation of the author's rights and is subject to criminal and administrative liability. But there are exceptions, which include the case where, by law, the materials are allowed to be used without the permission of the owner.

Copyright: period of validity

According to Russian law, the right of the author has no limitation period, applies for the whole life of the person and another 70 years after his/her death, starting from 01.01. of the year following the year of care. If the work was realized in co-authorship, the right of the author also has no limitation period, functions for the whole life and 70 years after the departure of the remaining co-author.

If the work is signed by a fictitious name (pseudonym), the copyright lasts for 70 years, from 01.01. of the year following its publication. During these years the person has the right to disclose his real name, and the period of influence of the right will be counted according to the same order.

A variant in which the author is a WWII participant, his rights have an extended period of validity of 4 years. If materials are published for the first time after the death of the author, his right continues for 70 years from the time of publication from 01.01 year following the year of publication.

What does infringement of an author's rights lead to?

Persons who violate copyrights are subject to sanctions that include monetary penalties, correctional labor, and imprisonment.

Among the most relevant types of violations of the rights of the author are:

• royalties have been paid in part or not paid at all;
• publication of materials without the consent of the author;
• the work is published, but the name of the author is not indicated;
• someone else's work is passed off as one's own (plagiarism);
• illegal reproduction of other people's materials without the permission of the author (counterfeiting);
• illegal production of printed materials, video and audio recordings for sale (piracy).

If sufficient evidence of an infringement of the author's rights is found, measures are taken to search for and seize copies of the work that are found to be in violation of copyright.