Web Copyright Protection In Ukraine - legal memo by our Kiev law office

1. Objects of protection

Major objects of protection on the Internet in Ukraine:

• software;
• musical compositions (songs);
• texts (books, theses, articles, translations);
• photos and other images;
• movies.

2. Ways of protection

Three ways to protect your rights on the Internet:

 

 2.1. Letters and complaints

Usually we advise our Clients to send a letter to website owner and/or to hosting provider. In the majority of cases it is necessary to contact hosting provider only when website owner is anonymous or ignores your letter.

We define two types of requests:

1. Letter (download a sample):

• includes a request to delete content which infringes copyright without provision of a comprehensive legal analysis.

A letter is sent in case when there are grounds to suppose that violator has no intention to infringe other’s rights and will respond positively.

2. Complaint (download a sample):

• includes a request to delete content which infringes copyright; such complaint specifies possible negative consequences that a violator may face if copyright holder’s request is ignored.

We apply this mean when a person intentionally infringes copyright and possibly receives benefits from such infringement.

2.2. Interaction with third parties (exemplified by Google)

By means of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) it is possible to:

• exclude web pages or the entire website from Google search results;
• delete a page or a website from Google’s services or other Internet services.

A significant amount of Internet users will not be able to find pages that infringe copyrights which is due to the leading position of Google as websites’ traffic source on the Internet (Google is the most popular search engine not only in Ukraine but in the world).

Schematically this process looks as following:

 

(all three stages usually take up to 3 weeks)

You can find more information about this mean of protection in the article written by our lawyer for YURLIGA website.

Our opinion is that as of today this tool is one of the most effective ones. Its major disadvantage is inability to compensation for damages.

2.3. Litigation and compensations

The following persons are liable for copyright infringement:

• persons who unlawfully uploaded copyright objects on the Internet;
• owners of websites which hosted unlawfully uploaded content.

Civil penalties

• compensation for damages (the amount of damages must be well-grounded);
• recovery of profit (if a violator received any profit);
• payment of compensation in the amount from 10 470 to 52 350 000 UAH.

Download sample of a claim.

 

The minimal amount of compensation to an author for infringement of his copyright is 10470 UAH. It is paid to the copyright holder.

Administrative penalties

• fine in the amount from 170 to 3400 UAH. The fine is paid to the state.

Peculiarities of disputes related to copyright protection on the Internet:
 

These peculiarities are explained in our analytical materials (links to them are available below).

3. Detailed analysis of judicial practice

You may find it interesting to read the following analytical articles of our lawyers:

• Identification of guilty persons;
• Algorithms of actions and ways of proof;
• Analysis of major decisions in current judicial practice;
• Comment about disputes with file sharing services (exemplified by EX.UA) - for Ukrainian Business Resource.

4. Major regulatory acts

• Civil Code of Ukraine.
• Commercial Code of Ukraine.
• Law of Ukraine “On copyright and related rights”.
• The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886).
• Universal Copyright Convention (1952).