What is a copyright?

Copyright - rights appearing at an author as a result of creation by him/her of any work (art, literary, audiovisual, musical, etc.).

The copyright belongs to the author of a work and his/her heirs from the date of creation of the work.

The copyright is divided into (1) personal non-property rights and (2) property rights

Author's personal non-property rights include

the right to demand recognition of his/her authorship by proper indication of the author's name on the work and its copies and during any public use of the work, if practically possible;

the right to prohibit mentioning his/her name during public use of the work, if the author wishes to remain anonymous;

the right to choose a pseudonym, to note and demand to indicate the pseudonym instead of the author's real name on the work and its copies and during any public use thereof;

the right to demand preservation of integrity of the work and to counteract to any defacement, distortion or other change of the work or any other encroachment upon the work that can be detrimental to the author's honor and reputation.

Author's personal non-property rights may not be transferred (alienated) to other persons.

Author's property rights include:

the exclusive right to use the work allowing an owner of the right to use the work in any form and by any means.

the exclusive right to AUTHORIZE other persons to use the work as follows:

to reproduce the work;

to communicate, perform, demonstrate and show the works in public;

to distribute copies of the work;

to remake, adapt, arrange, translate the work;

to import copies of the work, etc.

the right to proHIBIT the improper use of the work

Author's property rights may be transferred to other persons.

Objects of copyright can INCLUDE:

• Literary writings (books, brochures, articles, etc.), as well as verbal works in the form of performances, lectures, sermons;

• Computer programs and databases;

• Musical compositions, as well as dramatic, musical-dramatic works, pantomimes and other works created for scenic performance and their staging;

• Audiovisual works;

• Works of graphic art, as well as works of architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, photography;

• Collections of works, derivative and other works.

This list is not comprehensive.

Objects of copyright canNOT INCLUDE:

information on news of the day or current events, which has the nature of usual media information

folk arts (folklore)

official documents of political, legislative, administrative nature (laws, decrees, resolutions, judgements, state standards) issued by the state authorities within limits of their powers

state symbols of Ukraine, state awards; symbols and signs of the state authorities, Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military units; symbols of territorial communes, symbols and signs of enterprises, institutions and organizations - after their official approval

banknotes - after their official approval

time-tables of traffic of means of transport, television and radio diaries, telephone directories and other similar databases, which do not meet the criteria of originality and are protected by sui-generis rights

Copyright owners for notification of their rights may use the copyright mark consisting of :

1. encircled Roman letter "c" - c,

1. name of a person holding the copyright,

1. year of the first publication of the work.

This mark is put on the original and each copy of the work. It can be seen for example on license audio or video cassettes, discs, magazines.

c Int West Video 2004

c CJSC , 2005

The authors' property rights are effective from the moment of creation of a work and during all author's life and 70 years after his/her death. The authors' personal non-property rights are protected for unlimited term.

Unlike other intellectual property objects (trademark, invention, utility model) the copyright objects are legally protected from the moment of their creation by an author. Appearance and exercise of copyright do not require registration of a work, any other special legalization thereof or fulfillment of any other formalities.

However, a copyright owner may voluntarily register his/her rights and obtain a copyright certificate.

IT IS IMPORTANT to remember that in case of dispute concerning the copyright the availability of a copyright certificate can be strong evidence in court.

The state registration of copyright and agreements concerning the authors' rights in works is made by the Ukrainian Agency of Copyright and Related Rights.

You can get more detailed information on the procedure of state registration of copyright by clicking here .

IT IS IMPORTANT to know that:

1. There is a special legal regulation concerning the copyright in some kinds of works (audiovisual works, collections, composite works). For example an author of a collection or other composite works holds copyright only in selection and arrangement made by him/her of works and other data, that is a result of creative labor for their ordering.

1. The ownership of property rights in a created work depends on the procedure and conditions of its creation (creation of a work in co-authorship, during performance of official duties, made to order, etc). For example, when making a work to order the author's property rights therein belong jointly to an author and a customer, unless otherwise agreed by them.

1. There are cases, when the use of a work is allowed and considered lawful without authorization of an owner of author's property rights.