Lecture
Computer programs and databases are classified by this Law as objects of copyright. Computer programs are granted legal protection as works of literature, and databases as compilations
Protection of computer programs extends to all types of computer programs (including operating systems), which may be expressed in any language and in any form, including source code and object code.
Legal protection does not extend to the ideas and principles underlying a computer program or database, or any element of them, including the ideas and principles of interface and algorithm organization, as well as programming languages.
1. Copyright is valid from the moment a computer program or database is created, for the entire life of the author plus 50 years after their death, counting from January 1 of the year following the year of the author's death.
2. The term of expiration of copyright for a computer program or database created jointly by co-authors is calculated from the time of death of the last surviving co-author.
3. Copyright for a computer program or database released anonymously or under a pseudonym is valid from the moment of its release for 50 years. If the author of a computer program or database released anonymously or under a pseudonym discloses their identity within the specified period, or if the pseudonym adopted by the author leaves no doubt as to their identity, then the term of protection provided for in paragraph 1 of this article applies.
4. The author's personal rights to a computer program or database are protected indefinitely.
Even lawfully published software may not be used without the author's consent and payment of authorial remuneration, even when used for personal purposes.
When selling copies of computer programs and databases and providing mass users with access to them, a special procedure for concluding copyright agreements is permitted, as established by the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Legal Protection of Programs for Electronic Computers and Databases".
The author of a computer program or database, or another rightholder, has the exclusive right to carry out and/or authorize the carrying out of the following actions:
reproduction of the computer program or database (in full or in part) in any form, by any means;
distribution of the computer program or database;
modification of the computer program or database, including translation of the computer program or database from one language to another; (equivalent to the right of adaptation and translation)
other use of the computer program or database
2. The exclusive right to a computer program or database created in the course of work performed under a state contract for federal state needs or the needs of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation belongs to the contractor (performer), unless the state contract establishes that this right belongs to the Russian Federation or to the constituent entity of the Russian Federation on whose behalf the state customer acts.
3. In the event that the exclusive right to a computer program or database, in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, belongs neither to the Russian Federation nor to a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the rightholder, at the request of the state customer, is obliged to conclude with the person or persons indicated by the customer an agreement on the free provision of the right to use the computer program or database in the manufacture of goods to be supplied or the performance of contract work for federal state needs or the needs of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.
4. Remuneration to the author of a computer program or database who is not the right holder shall be paid by the person who acquired the exclusive right in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article. The procedure for payment and the amount of remuneration shall be established by an agreement between the author and the right holder.
1. The right holder, directly or through a representative, may, during the term of copyright, at his own discretion register a computer program or database with the federal executive authority for intellectual property, except for computer programs and databases containing information constituting a state secret.
2. An application for official registration of a computer program or database (hereinafter referred to as the registration application) must relate to a single computer program or a single database.
The registration application must contain:
an application for official registration of the computer program or database indicating the right holder, as well as the author, if he has not waived being named as such, and their location (place of residence);
the materials to be deposited that identify the computer program or database, including an abstract;
a document confirming payment of the state fee in the established amount, or the grounds for exemption from paying the state fee.
The rules for filing a registration application are determined by the federal executive authority for intellectual property.
3. Upon receipt of the registration application, the federal executive authority for intellectual property verifies the presence of the necessary documents and their compliance with the requirements set out in paragraph 2 of this article. If the verification is successful, the federal executive authority for intellectual property enters the computer program or database into the Register of Computer Programs or the Register of Databases, respectively, issues the applicant a certificate of official registration, and publishes information on the registered computer programs and databases in the official bulletin of the federal executive authority for intellectual property.
At the request of the federal executive authority for intellectual property, or on his own initiative, the applicant has the right, prior to publication of the information in the official bulletin, to supplement, clarify, and correct the application materials.
4. The procedure for official registration of computer programs and databases, the forms of certificates of official registration, the list of information to be indicated in them, as well as the list of information published in the official bulletin, is established by the federal executive authority for intellectual property.
5. Agreements on the full or partial transfer of the exclusive right to computer programs and databases may, by agreement of the parties, be registered with the federal executive authority for intellectual property. Information on the change of right holder based on a registered agreement is entered into the Register of Computer Programs or the Register of Databases and published in the official bulletin of the federal executive authority for intellectual property.
6. Information entered in the Register of Computer Programs or the Register of Databases shall be deemed reliable until proven otherwise.
The applicant is responsible for the accuracy of the information provided.
7. A state fee is paid for performing legally significant acts related to the registration of computer programs and databases, and of agreements, in the amounts and according to the procedure established by the tax and duties legislation of the Russian Federation.
Use of a computer program or database by third parties (users) is carried out on the basis of an agreement with the right holder, except for the cases specified in Article 16 of this Law.
An agreement for the use of a computer program or database is concluded in writing.
When selling copies of computer programs and databases and providing mass users with access to them, a special procedure for concluding agreements is allowed, for example by setting out the terms of the agreement on the copies of the computer programs and databases being transferred.
A person lawfully in possession of a copy of a computer program or database has the right, without obtaining additional permission from the right holder, to perform any actions related to the functioning of the computer program or database in accordance with its purpose, including recording and storing it in computer memory, as well as correcting obvious errors. Recording and storing it in computer memory is permitted with respect to a single computer or a single user on a network, unless otherwise provided by the agreement with the right holder.
A person lawfully in possession of a copy of a computer program or database has the right, without the consent of the right holder and without paying additional remuneration to them, to:
adapt the computer program or database;
make, or commission the making of, a copy of the computer program or database, provided that this copy is intended solely for archival purposes and, if necessary (in the event that the original of the computer program or database is lost, destroyed, or rendered unusable), for replacing a lawfully acquired copy. In doing so, the copy of the computer program or database may not be used for other purposes and must be destroyed if further use of that computer program or database ceases to be lawful.
A person lawfully in possession of a copy of a computer program has the right, without the consent of the right holder and without paying additional remuneration, to decompile the computer program or commission its decompilation, in order to study the coding and structure of that program, under the following conditions:
the information necessary to achieve interoperability of a computer program independently developed by that person with other programs is not available from other sources;
the information obtained as a result of this decompilation may be used only to achieve interoperability of the computer program independently developed by that person with other programs, and not for creating a new computer program substantially similar in form to the decompiled program, or for carrying out any other action that infringes copyright;
decompilation is carried out only with respect to those parts of the computer program that are necessary to achieve such interoperability.
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