Lecture
Under Russian legislation, intellectual property (IP) means the totality of exclusive rights in the results of intellectual activity, as well as in certain other objects treated as equivalent to them, such as means of individualisation of participants in civil transactions and of the goods (works, services) they produce. The objects of intellectual property are the creations of the human mind, of human intellect.
The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), adopted in Stockholm on 14 June 1967, provides that the objects of intellectual property are: 1) literary and artistic works and scientific writings; 2) the performing activity of performers, phonograms and broadcasts; 3) inventions in all fields of human endeavour; 4) scientific discoveries; 5) industrial designs; 6) trademarks, service marks, trade names and commercial designations; 7) protection against unfair competition.
Literary and artistic works and scientific writings, as objects of intellectual property, are protected by copyright. Rights in such objects as the performing activity of performers, phonograms and broadcasts are usually called related rights. Inventions, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks and trade names and designations are objects of industrial property, which in turn, under Russian legislation, consists of the following components: patent law, the right to commercial secrets and the legislation on means of individualisation. The right to protection against unfair competition is also regarded as an object of industrial property. There are also quite a few results of intellectual activity that are protected by law but outside the framework of copyright and industrial property law. These are the so-called non-traditional objects of intellectual property — topographies of integrated circuits and selection achievements, as well as certain other objects of legal protection. Intellectual property law is a sub-branch of civil law.
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