Intellectual Property

About the course

Intellectual property is increasingly a company's most valuable asset: software, databases, trademarks, know-how. The course explains how these assets are protected under Part Four of the Russian Civil Code, how to properly transfer and acquire rights to them, and how to avoid losing them through contract errors.

HSE IPAA's partner in intellectual property is FIPS, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FGBU FIPS).

Disposal of intellectual property rights

What you will know and be able to do:

• understand the challenges of disposing of personal non-property rights;
• navigate current legislation on the disposal of exclusive rights;
• take the specifics of personal non-property rights into account when drafting contracts.

Session topics:

1. Can personal non-property rights be disposed of?
2. General provisions on the disposal of an exclusive right.
3. Agreement on the alienation of an exclusive right.
4. License agreement: types, specifics, typical risks.
5. Other agreements in the field of intellectual property.

Civil law in the digital environment: computer programs, databases, information

What you will know and be able to do: apply current legislation on the creation and circulation of software, databases and information, and understand how and with what specifics it is applied.

Key points of the session:

1. Computer programs are protected as literary works but have a special regime. In particular, the rights holder may modify a program extensively, which in effect limits the author's right to the integrity of the work.
2. In the information economy, databases are becoming an increasingly valuable asset: their legal regime makes it possible to protect a wide range of information arrays, including “raw” data.
3. Russian law provides two ways to protect databases — copyright and the database maker's related right. With the right approach, you can benefit from both.
4. Article 1280 of the Russian Civil Code gives the lawful owner of a copy of a program or database broad options to use it without a license agreement. Both users and rights holders need to take this into account.
5. The law provides for many cases of free use of computer programs and databases — both parties need to know them.
6. An agreement with the rights holder can serve as a tool for restricting the dissemination of information contained in a database.
7. A separate topical issue is scraping, i.e. automated extraction of information from someone else's database. Court practice is inconsistent, but we review the guidelines for assessing whether such actions are permissible.
8. General rules on the disposal of rights apply to programs and databases, but with specifics: a simplified procedure for concluding agreements, open licenses, and the use of preinstalled software.
9. Information is not an object of civil rights, yet in practice it becomes a commodity. The Russian Civil Code and the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” provide different mechanisms for protecting it — it is important to understand the consequences of choosing each one.
10. To use information, including in cloud services, you need to distinguish between an information services agreement and a license agreement. In practice they are often confused, although their terms and legal consequences differ.
11. An effective way to protect information is the trade secret (know-how) regime. It does not suit every kind of information, but when applied correctly it reliably protects valuable information.
12. Know-how is transferred under the familiar agreement on the alienation of an exclusive right and the license agreement, but they have their own specifics that often lead to disputes.

Patent law

What you will know and be able to do:

• navigate current patent law provisions;
• understand the procedure for obtaining a patent.

The module covers legal issues of intellectual property protection — registration and protection of rights, including in different jurisdictions — with a focus on developing and protecting software code and algorithms.

Copyright in the digital age: new opportunities and new risks

What you will know and be able to do:

• apply current copyright law requirements;
• take into account the specifics of concluding copyright agreements.

Session topics:

1. General provisions on copyright.
2. Use of works in digital form.
3. Use of works in information and telecommunication networks.
4. Protection of computer programs, databases and outputs created with artificial intelligence.
5. Copyright agreements.

Digital rights

What you will know and be able to do: navigate the legal regulation of digital rights and understand the trends in its development.

The digital environment constantly poses new challenges for lawyers. In this module we review the key ones and approaches to addressing them.

Upcoming dates and enrollment terms are in the Schedule section. On completing the course, you receive an HSE IPAA certificate of completion.