RUSSIAN FEDERATION LAW
ON COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBORING RIGHTS

(in the wording of the Federal Law # 110-F3 dated July 19, 1995)

Section I

General provisions

The present law governs relations emerging in the process of creating and using scientific, literary, and artistic pieces (the copyright ), recordings, performances, broadcasts of regular and cable television (neighboring rights).

Article 2

The legislation of Russian Federation on copyright and neighboring rights

The legislation of Russian Federation on copyright and neighboring rights comprises the present Law as a part of the Civil Legislation of Russian Federation acting on its territory as well as other legal acts passed on its basis, the Law of Russian Federation "On protecting computer software and databases". It also incorporates legal acts passed on the basis on the present law in the subjects of Russian Federation.

Article 3

International treaties

If an international treaty, to which Russian Federation is a party, lays down regulation different from the provisions of the present law, the principles of the former are applied.

Article 4

Central notions

For the purposes of the present law the following notions are defined:

author - a person who has created a certain piece;

audio-visual piece - a piece consisting of a fixed series of inter-related video frames (with or without a soundtrack) intended for visual and auditory (with a soundtrack) perception and transmitted via specialized technical devices; audio-visual pieces include films and all other pieces comparable to films (television and video films, overhead projections, etc.) irregardless of means used as a carrier;

database - an object form of representing and organizing information or data (textual, numerical, etc. information) systematized a such a way that these data could be found and analyzed with the help of a computer;

playback of a piece - making one or more copies of this piece or its part in any material form including audio and video recordings, creating one or more three-dimensional copies of a two-dimensional piece and one or more two-dimensional copies of a three-dimensional piece; copying a piece into computer memory is also considered a playback;

playback of a sound recording - making one or more copies of this recording or any of its parts on any material carrier;
recording - putting down sounds and (or) images on any material carrier using technical means and allowing subsequent reproduction, playback, or transmission;

producer of an audio-visual piece - a legal entity or person assuming the initiative and responsibility to produce this piece; if not proved otherwise the producer of a certain audio-visual piece is recognized by the inscription made on the piece in the usual way and denoting a name of a person or legal entity;

producer of a soundtrack - a legal entity or person assuming the initiative and responsibility to produce the first sound recording; if not proved otherwise the producer of a certain audio-visual piece is recognized by the inscription made on the recording and (or) on its casing in the usual way and denoting a name of a person or legal entity;

performance - representation of various pieces through play, recital, dance done live or with the help of technical means (television or radio broadcasts, cable television or other technical means); displaying the video sequence of a certain piece (with or without a soundtrack);

performer - an actor, musician, singer, or any other person who acts out the part, recites, sings or plays a musical instrument or performs literary or musical pieces (including circus, popular or puppet pieces) in any other way as well as the producer or director of theatrical pieces and the conductor;

publicizing the piece - an action pursued with an explicit permission of the author, which makes the piece in question accessible for the general public through publication, public display, performance, broadcasting or any other means;

publication - circulating copies of the piece with an explicit permission from the author or producer in a quantity sufficient for satisfying reasonable public demand depending on the nature of the piece;

broadcast - imparting pieces (performances, records, plays, program of regular and cable television) for general viewing and (or) listening. Satellite transmission is considered a broadcast from the moment of sending the signal to the satellite from a surface station and relaying it to the general audience regardless of its factual reception;

television or cable television program - a program created by an organization involved in television or cable television broadcasting or by other organization commissioned to produce this program;

display - showing of a certain piece or its copy in its development or on a screen using film, slides for overhead projection, video sequence or other technical means as well as demonstrating separate frames extracted from a video sequence in an arbitrary succession;

recorded broadcast - a repeated broadcast of pieces that have previously been aired;

computer program - an objective form of representing systemically organized data and commands designed for computer processing to achieve a certain result including preparatory materials used while developing a given computer program and the products of the program execution;

a piece of applied and decorative art - a two-dimensional or three-dimensional art piece executed as a utensil possessing a practical application including traditional artifacts produced on a large scale;

public display or publicizing - any exposure or performance of the pieces for public viewing or listening including recordings, theatrical plays, radio and television programs etc. in a place open for general public or where a large audience is present surpassing the usual number of family members regardless of the fact whether these pieces are perceived in the place of their presentation or any other place;

producer or play director - a person supervising preparation and subsequent public display of a circus, theatrical, puppet, popular performance or show;

reproduction - facsimile copying in any size or shape of the original or other copies of written or graphical pieces via photocopying or technical means other than publishing; reproduction excludes storing or reproducing of the above-mentioned copies in the electronic (including digital), optical form, or capable of being scanned by any other type of machine;

rental - granting the right to temporarily use a certain piece with an aim of drawing certain direct or indirect commercial advantages;

convey - display, perform, air or execute any action (with an exception of distributing copies of the piece) to make a certain piece available for general listening and (or) viewing regardless of the fact whether the factual perception of the piece by the audience;

convey for general viewing and (or) listening by cable - impart various pieces to the general public via cable, optical networks or other similar means;

sound recording - any soundtrack of performances or any other sounds;

a copy of the recording - a copy of the soundtrack on any material carrier molded on the original soundtrack and containing all or some of the sounds present in the initial soundtrack.

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SECTION II

THE COPYRIGHT

Article 5

Scope

1. In accordance with the present Law copyright covers:

- on publicized or unpublicized, but present in any objective form on the territory of Russian Federation, pieces regardless of the citizenship of their authors or their legal representatives;

- on publicized or unpublicized, but present in any objective form outside the territory of Russian Federation, pieces and is recognized after the authors with the Russian Federation citizenship or their legal representatives;

- on publicized or unpublicized, but present in any objective form outside the territory of Russian Federation, pieces and is recognized after the authors-citizens of other states or their legal representatives as provided for in the international treaties, to which Russian federation is a party.

2. A piece is considered publicized on the territory of Russian Federation, if it has been published in Russian Federation within 30 after it was published outside its territory.

3. While considering granting legal protection to a certain piece on the territory of Russian Federation as stipulated by the international treaties, to which Russian Federation is a party, the author of the piece is determined along the provisions of the legislation of the state where the copyright emerged in the first place.

Article 6

The subject of copyright: General provisions

1. Copyright extends to all literary and art pieces appearing as a result of creative work regardless of the purpose and merits of the piece as well as the way of expression.

2. Copyright extends both to publicized and unpublicized pieces existing in any objective form:
- written (handwritten, typed, in the form of musical notation, etc.);
- oral (public recital, public performance, etc.);
- audio- or video recordings (mechanic, magnetic, digital, optic, etc.);
- imaging (pictures, drawings, drafts, plans, video and cinema frames, etc.);
- spatial (sculpture, models, structures, etc.);
- other forms.

3. A part of the piece meeting the conditions set forth in paragraph 1 of the present Article and capable of functioning independently constitutes an object of the copyright.

4. Copyright does not apply to ideas, methods, processes, systems, means, concepts, principles, discoveries, and facts.

5. Copyright to an object does not correlate with the property right to that object, in which the piece finds its expression. The transfer of ownership does not in itself constitute transfers of the copyright to the piece expressed in the object, except for the cases provided for in Article 17 of the present Law.

Article 7

Object of copyright

1. The following pieces are recognized as objects of copyright:
- literary works (including computer programs);
- dramatic and musical pieces, performances following a scenario;
- choreographic performances and pantomimes;
- musical pieces with and without lyrics;
- audio-visual pieces (cinematic, television, and video films, slides for overhead projection and other similar works);
- paintings, drawings, sculptures, designs, comic strips and other creations of depicting art;
- decorative and applied art pieces, scenic performances;
- architectural, park, and gardening creations;
- photographic and similar works;
- geographic, geological, and other maps, plans, sketches and plastic forms related to geography, topography, and other fields;
- other pieces.

2. Protection of computer programs covers all types of software for computers (including operation systems), that can be expressed in any language and form including the original text and object code.

3. The following pieces also fall in the copyright scope:

- derivative pieces (translations, remakes, annotations, summaries, reviews, theatrical sketches, musical arrangements and other remakes of literary, scientific and artistic pieces

- collections (encyclopedias, anthologies, databases) and other compilations depending on in their makeup or lineup for creative effort.

Derivative pieces are protected within the limits of the copyright regardless of the fact whether their component pieces are recognized as subject to copyright.

Article 8

Works falling outside copyright

The following works or pieces are not subject to copyright:

- official documents (laws, court rulings, other documents related to legislative, administrative, and legal procedures) and their official translations;
- coats of arms and other symbols (flags, insignia, regalia, banknotes, and other state symbols and signs);
- folk art pieces;
- reports on events and facts of informational nature.

Article 9

Emergence of copyright. Presumption of authorship

1. The copyright to scientific, literary, and art works emerges by virtue of their creation. No special registration or any other formal procedures to that effect are required for copyright to emerge and be fulfilled.

The proprietor of the exclusive copyright is entitled to using a sign of copyright protection to ensure the heretofore-mentioned right. The copyright sign consists of three elements:

- the Latin latter "C" enclosed in a circle;
- the name of the copyright owner;
- the year of the first publication of the piece.

2. In the absence of positive proof the authorship is attributed to the person indicated on the original of the piece or its copy.

3. If a certain piece is publicized anonymously or under a nickname (except for the cases when the author's nickname leaves no doubt concerning his or her identity), the publisher, whose name is marked on the piece, is considered a legal representative of the author, unless proved otherwise. He or she shall be entitled to protecting the copyright to the limits of the present law. This provision shall hold force until the actual author discloses his identity and declares his or her authorship.

4. Co-authorship

1. The authorship of a certain piece created as a result of joint effort by two or more persons (co-authorship) belongs to all the authors in equal share regardless of the fact whether the piece in question is a whole entity or consists of parts with independent value.

A part of the piece shall be recognized as possessing independent value regardless of the fact whether is can be used separately from
the other part of the same piece.

Each of the co-author has the right to use his or her part of the whole piece possessing independent value at his or her own discretion, unless provided otherwise by a mutual agreement.

2. The right to use the piece as a whole is equally shared by the co-authors. Relations between the co-authors may be subject to additional agreement. In case the piece is recognized to be an inseparable whole, none of the co-authors shall be authorized to prohibit its use without a good reason.

Article 11

The authorship of collections and other composite works

1. The author (compiler) of a collection or any other composite work owns the copyright to the selection and composition of materials, recognized as a result of creative work.

The compiler enjoys the right of authorship on condition that hi or she respects the authors' rights to the pieces included in the compilation or collection.

The authors of pieces making up the main work are fully entitled to using their respective creations independently from the main work unless stated otherwise in a separate agreement between the authors.

The copyright in this case shall not preclude other parties from compiling original works and collections consisting of separate pieces protected by copyright.

2. Publishers of encyclopedias, dictionaries, periodicals, collections of scientific works, magazines, newspapers and other periodic issues shall enjoy an exclusive right to exploit the heretofore-mentioned editions. The publishers shall have the right to use the name of their own choice or require its use.

The authors of the works included in such editions shall preserve the exclusive right to use their respective creations independently from the main piece.

Article 12

The author's rigth regarding translations and other derivative works

1. Translators and authors' of other derivative works shall be the sole proprietors of the copyright assigned to their translations, arrangements, or any other remakes.

The translator or author of any other derivative work shall exercise his or her copyright to his or her creation provided that he or she fully complies with and respects the rights of the author of the original work.

2. The copyright of translators and authors of other derivative pieces does not prevent other parties from producing their own translations or interpretations of the original piece.

Article 13

The copyright to audio-visual pieces

1. The authors of an audio-visual piece may include:
- a producer;
- a scriptwriter;
- a soundtrack composer (with or without lyrics).

2. The creation of an agreement on creation of an audio-visual piece leads a transfer of copyright ownership from the authors(s) of the piece to the publisher or producer of the piece. Therefore, the publisher or producer shall have exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, perform in public, broadcast via cable networks, air on television or radio or any other action publicizing the piece as well as its captioning and dubbing unless otherwise provided in a separate agreement. The heretofore-mentioned rights remain valid as long as the original copyright remains in force.
The publisher or producer of the audio-visual piece publishers shall have the right to use a name of their own choice or require its use.

3. The author(s) of an audio-visual piece is/are entitled to a share of fees obtained for performing the piece in public by other parties.

4. The authors of the works included in the audio-visual piece as constituent parts (created prior to the piece, such as the author of the novel used to write the script as well as created in the process of producing the final piece by the producer, artist, etc.) shall enjoy the copyright to their respective works.

Article 14

The copyright to works created while performing professional duties

1. The copyright to a work created while performing one's professional duties or assignments belongs to the author(s) of this work.

2. Exclusive rights to using works created while performing one's professional duties or assignments created while performing one's professional duties or assignments belongs to the person, with whom the author(s) has contractual relations unless specifically provided otherwise in a special agreement between the parties.
The amount of fees for every type of use of the work created while performing one's professional duties or assignments as well as the paying procedure are set forth in a separate agreement between the author and his or her employer.

3. The employer has the right to affix his or her name to the piece or require its use by another party.

4. The provisions of the present article do not apply to encyclopedias, dictionaries, periodicals, and collections of scientific works, newspapers, magazines or other periodic editions (paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the present Law) created while performing one's professional duties or assignments.

Article 15

Personal non-proprietary rights

1. The author shall have the following personal non-proprietary rights:

- the right to be recognized as the author of his or her work;
- the right to use or allow to use the work under the author's real name, pseudonym, or without any indication of his or her name, i.e. anonymously (the right to the name);
- the right to publicize the work in any form or have it publicized including the right to revoke its publication (the right to publication);
- the right to protection of the work including its title from any distortion or any other encroachment capable of disparaging and dishonoring the author.

2. The author has the right to abandon his or her intention to publicize his or her work (the right to withdrawal) on condition that the user(s) receive full indemnity for the losses suffered thereby including the loss of profit. It the work has already been publicized, the author shall be required to inform the general public of its withdrawal. The author shall also have the right to collect the copies of his or her work distributed previously at his or her own expense. The present provision shall not apply to works created while performing one's professional duties or assignments.

3. Personal non-proprietary rights belong to the author regardless of his or her proprietary rights and remain in force in case of concession of the exclusive rights to using his or her work.

Article 16

Proprietary rights

1. The author shall have exclusive rights to use his or her work in any manner or form.

2. Exclusive rights of the author to use his or her work mean the right to perform the following actions:

- reproduce his or her work (the right of reproduction);
- distribute copies of his or her work at his or her own discretion: sell, rent, etc. (the right of distribution);
- import copies of the work for distribution including copies produced with a permission of the copyright owner (the right of import);
- display the work in public (the right of public display);
- perform the work in public (the right of public performance);
- impart the work (including display, broadcasting) for general viewing or listening by means of airing and (or) subsequent airing (the right to broadcasting);
- impart the work (including display, broadcasting) for general viewing or listening by means of transmitting it via cable and (or) with the help of similar technical means (the right to transmission by cable);
- the right to translate the work (the right of translation);
- remake, rearrange or in any other way change the work (the right of remake);

The exclusive rights of the author to use designer, architectural and park projects shall also include their practical implementation. The author of an architectural project shall have the right to demand participation in the project implementation from the contractor starting with preparation of necessary documentation to actual construction unless provided otherwise in a separate agreement concluded by the parties.

3. If copies of a legally publicized work have been submitted for civil circulation by means of selling, the sales will proceed without the author's permission and royalty payments.
The right to distribute copies of his or her own work through rental shall rest with the author regardless of the right of ownership concerning the copies.

4. The size and procedure of calculating royalties for every type of usage regarding the piece shall be set forth in the author's agreement as well as agreements concluded by organizations governing copyright relations on a collective basis with the users.

5. Limitations of the copyright listed in paragraph 2 of the present Article are imposed in Articles 17 and 26 of the present Law on condition that such use does not lead to unjustified damage or hindrance to using the work and does not infringe upon the lawful interest of the author.

Article 17

The right of access to the works of fine arts. The right of succession

1. The author of a fine art piece shall have the right to require the owner of the piece to provide access to the piece for the sake of copying or duplicating (the right of access). However, the owner may not be required to return the piece to the author.

2. Transition of ownership to an object of fine art (with or without a concomitant payment) from the author to another person signifies an instance of selling this object.

Every instance of public resale of the piece (via an auction, arts gallery, shop, etc) at a price at least 20% higher than the previous one entitles the author to receiving a royalty payment from the seller, which shall amount to 5% of the resale price (the follow-up right). The aforementioned right emerges as inalienable and carries over only to legal heirs of the author for the term during which the copyright remains in force.


Article 18

Reproduction of the piece without the author's permission and royalties

1) Copying or reproducing of a given piece without the author's explicit permission and royalty payments is allowed solely for personal uses except for the cases described in Article 26 of the present law.
The provision of paragraph 1 of the present article shall not apply to:
 

  1. reproducing the architectural form of buildings and similar structures;
  2. reproducing databases or their key component parts;
  3. reproducing computer software except for the cases covered in Article 25 of the present Law;
  4. reproducing books (in full) and musical notation.

Article 19

Using the piece without the author's permission and royalty payments

Using the piece without the author's permission and royalty payments is allowed provided that the name of the author whose creation is being exploited and the source who has published the piece are mentioned:

1) quoting both in the original and translations from legitimately publicized pieces for scientific, research, critical and informational purposes in volumes justified by the quoting purpose including reproduction of extracts from newspapers and magazines in the form of media digests;

2) using legitimately publicized works and extracts as illustrations in various editions, radio and television programs, audio video recordings of educational nature in volumes adequate to the objective;

3) reproduction in newspapers, broadcasting or transmitting via cable for general reception of articles legitimately published in newspapers and magazines on the current economic, political, social, and religious issues or previously aired pieces of similar nature in cases when such reproduction, reproduction and broadcasting have not been prohibited by the author;

4) reproduction in newspapers, broadcasting or transmitting via cable for general reception of publicly delivered political speeches, addresses, reports, and other pieces of the same nature in volumes justified by the need to inform the general public. At the same time the author preserves the right publish such pieces in various collections;

5) reproduction or relating for general reception of pieces obtained by photographic means, and broadcast transmitted via cable, which become heard or observed in the course of such events, in volumes justified by the purpose to inform. At the same time the author preserves the right publish such pieces in various collections;

6) reproduction of legitimately publicized pieces on an non-profit basis using the Broil alphabet or other special means for the visually disabled except for the pieces specially created for such reproduction.

Article 20

Using pieces by means of reproduction

Making a single copy of a given piece for non-profit purposes without the author's permission and royalty payments, but with compulsory indication of the author's name whose work is being used and the source is considered admissible. Such copying may include:

1) legitimately published works reproduced by libraries and archives for restoration or substitution of lost or damaged editions, submitting copies to other libraries that have lost their own editions of the same kind;

2) separate articles or small works legitimately published in collections, newspapers or other periodical editions, short excerpts from legitimately published written works (with or without illustrations) by libraries and archives on requests from private individuals for educational and research purposes;

3) separate articles and small works legitimately published in collections, newspapers and other periodical editions, short extracts from legitimately published written works (with or without illustrations) by educational institutions for classroom studies.

Article 21

Free use of works permanently located at institutions open for public access

Free reproduction, broadcasting or publication for general viewing or listening by cable will be permitted without prior permission from the author or royalty payments for architectural structures, photographs, fine art pieces that are permanently located at places open for public access except for the cases when depicting the piece becomes the sole purpose of such reproduction, broadcasting or publication for public notice by cable or when images of the piece are used for commercial purposes.

Article 22

Free public performance

Free public performance of musical pieces is allowed without the author's permission and royalty payments during official and religious ceremonies as well as funerals as seen adequate for the nature of these ceremonies.

Article 23

Free reproduction for courtroom purposes

Free reproduction for courtroom purposes is allowed without the author's permission and royalty payments in volumes justified by the aforementioned goal.

Article 24

Free recording for short-term use executed by broadcasting organizations

Broadcasting organizations may without the author's permission and any royalty payments make records of pieces whose broadcasting has been previously agreed upon for short-term use on condition that such recordings is done for internal use by the organizations using their own equipment. The organizations shall destroy any such recordings within six months from the moment they were made, unless different terms have been negotiated and accepted by the organization and the author. Such recordings may be subsequently stored without the author's permission in official archives, if they documentary in nature.

Article 25

Free reproduction of computer software and databases. Decompilation of computer programs

1. A person in legitimate possession of a computer program or database copy shall have the following rights regarding the aforementioned items regardless the presence or absence of the author's or any other copyright holder's permission or royalty payments:

  1. alter the computer program or database for reasons of modifying or improving its performance on the technical means of the user, carry out any actions related to the functionality of the program or database as presupposed by their purpose including saving it in computer memory (on one or more computers forming a network) as well as correcting explicit errors unless stipulated otherwise in the agreement with the author;
  2. prepare copies of the program or database provided that these copies are meant solely for archival purposes or substitution of a legitimately acquired copy in the cases when the original of the program or database has been lost, deleted or become unfit for use. Thus, the copy of the computer program or database may not be used for the purpose other than those indicated in sub-paragraph 1 of the present paragraph and will have to be destroyed in case the possession of the program or database ceases to be legitimate.

2. A person in legitimate possession of a computer program or database copy enjoys the right to reproduce and transform the object code into the original script (decompile the program) without the author's permission and royalty payments or delegate these tasks to other parties, if these actions are necessary for making a program independently developed by that person compatible with other programs, capable of interacting with the decompiled program providing the following conditions are met:

  1. information necessary for attaining compatibility has been previously inaccessible for that person from other sources;
  2. the aforementioned actions are targeted solely at those parts of the computer program that are necessary for insuring compatibility;
  3. information gained in the decompilation process may be used exclusively to achieve compatibility of the independently developed program with other programs, but may not be used to develop other computer software similar in composition with the decompiled program or for any other purpose tantamount to violating the statutory copyright.

3. Application of the present provisions cannot cause any unjustified damage to the normal use of the computer program or database or infringe the statutory interests of the author or any other copyright owner.

Article 26

Reproduction of the piece in private purposes without the author's permission but with payment of royalties

1. The provisions of articles 37 and 38 of the present Law cease to apply, when an audio or visual piece (record) is reproduced for private purposes without the author's permission or permission from the copyright owner but with payment of royalties.

2. Royalties due in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of the present article shall be paid by the producers or importers of the equipment (tape and video recorders, other equipment) and material carriers (tapes and cassettes, CD's, DVD's, other material carriers) used for such reproduction.

Collection and distribution of royalties shall be carried out by one of the organizations managing the author's property rights as well as the rights of records companies and performers on a collective basis in accordance with an agreement between the aforementioned organizations (Article 44 of the present law). The above-mentioned payments shall be distributed in the following proportion, unless stipulated otherwise in the agreement: 40% to the author(s), 30% to the performers, and 30% to the producers of the records.

The actual size of the royalties and payment conditions are set forth in a separate agreement between the above-mentioned producers and importers on the one hand and organizations managing the property rights of the authors, producers of the records, and performers on a collective basis on the other. Should the parties fail to arrive at such an agreement the arrangements shall be made by a specially authorized federal body.

3. Royalties shall not be paid on equipment and material carriers enumerated in the first paragraph of paragraph 2 that are subject to exports as well as professional equipment, which is not meant for home use.

Article 27

Term of the copyright validity

1. The copyright remains standing for the entire duration of the author's life and 50 year after his or her death except for the cases provided for in the present article.
The copyright, the right to the name and protection of the author's reputation are considered permanent.

2. The author may, under the same procedure, as establishing inheritance and naming the executor of his or her will, appoint a person in charge of protecting the copyright, the right to the name, and reputation after his or her death.

In the absence of the author's will to this effect after his or her death the copyright, the right to the name, and reputation shall be protected by his or her heirs or a specially authorized federal body appointed to grant such protection in case of the absence of heirs or termination of their copyright .

3. The copyright to works publicized anonymously or under an assumed name shall remain standing for 50 years since the date of its legitimate publication.

Should the author of a piece publicized anonymously or under an assumed name wish to reveal his or her true identity, or his or her identity become apparent beyond any reasonable doubt, then the provision of the first paragraph of paragraph 1 shall apply.

4. The copyright to works created in co-authorship shall remain valid for the entire duration of life and 50 years after the demise of the last author who outlived other co-authors.

5. The copyright to works publicized for the first time after the author's demise remains in force for 50 years

In case the author has suffered from political repression and reinstated in his or her rights after his or her debts, the term of the copyright protection begins from January 1 of the year following the year of the reinstatement.

If the author happened to work during World War II or participated in military action, the copyright validity term set forth in the present article shall be prolonged by 4 years.

6. The terms provided for in the present article shall be counted from January 1 of the ear following the year, in which the legal fact constituting the grounds for the term commencement takes place.


Article 28

Public property

1. Cessation of the copyright validity term constitutes their transition into public property.

Works that have not been subject to statutory copyright protection on the territory of Russian Federation also pass to public property.

2. Works considered to be public property can be freely used by any party without royalty payments. However, in the aforementioned case the copyright , the right to the name and the right to protection of his or her reputation shall remain inviolate (article 15 of the present Law).

3. The Government of Russian Federation may institute social payments for the use of works that have been classified as public property on the territory of Russian Federation. Such payments shall be contributed to professional funds of authors as well we to organizations managing the property rights of authors on a collective basis and may not exceed 1% of the profit obtained from the use of such works.

Article 29

Inheriting the copyright

The copyright may be subject to inheritance.

The copyright, the right to the name and protection of the author's reputation cannot be inherited. The author's heir(s) are entitled to protecting the aforementioned rights. They are limited in this capacity by any time constraints.

In the absence of heirs the protection of the above-mentioned rights passes on to a specially authorized government body.

Article 30

Transfer of the property rights. The author's agreement

1. The property rights described in article 16 of the present Law may be subject to transfer only under the author's agreement except for the cases provided for in articles 18-26 of the present Law.

A transfer of the property rights shall take place on the basis of an agreement transferring exclusive rights to another party or an author's agreement on transferring non-exclusive rights.

2. The author's agreement on transferring exclusive rights allows use of the piece it is intended to protect in a way specified in that agreement and only to the person who receives the copyright and empowers him or her to preclude other parties from using the piece.

The right to ban other parties from using the author's work may be executed by the author, if the person empowered to this effect fails to provide the necessary protection.

3. The author's agreement on transferring non-exclusive rights permits the user to make use of the piece exercising the same scope of rights enjoyed by the holder of exclusive right and having passed such rights or other person(s) who have obtained permission to use the piece in the same manner.

4. The rights passed under the author's agreement are considered non-exclusive unless specified otherwise in the author's agreement.

Article 31. Terms of the author's agreement

1. The author's agreement shall have provisions for: ways of future use of the work in question (a set of specified rights transferable under the agreement); terms and territory where the copyright transferred under the agreement will hold force; the size of royalties and (or) the standing order for determining royalty payments for every type of use, payment schedules and procedures as well as other terms and conditions deemed necessary under the present agreement.

In case the author's agreement fails to provide any indication of the term, for the duration of which the copyright is delegated, the author may invalidate the agreement after 5 years from its conclusion unless the user is notified in writing of the severance of the agreement six months before it takes effect.

In case the author's agreement fails to provide any indication as to the territory, on which the copyright will have legal force, the copyright will be considered actionable on the whole territory of Russian Federation.

2. All copyrights whose transfer is not specified in the author's agreement are considered non-transferred.

The copyrights, which are unknown at the moment of conclusion of the author's agreement, are not considered admissible in the author's agreement.

3. The amount of royalties shall be stipulated in the author's agreement as a percentage from the income for a given use of the work being the subject of the agreement or, if calculating the percentage is deemed impossible because of the nature of the work in question or its peculiarities of its usage, as a lump sum to the amount provided for in the agreement or become subject of any other provisions recognized by the parties.

Minimal royalty rates will be set by the Council of Ministers of the RF Government. Minimal royalty rates shall come subject to adjustments in line with adjustments made to the minimal statutory work pay.

If the author's agreement presupposed publishing or any other copying of the work, which is the subject of the heretofore-mentioned agreement, with the royalties payable as a fixed sum, then the agreement shall stipulate the minimal amount of copies published for circulation.

4. The rights passed under the author's agreement may be transferred in part or in full to other parties only in case it has been so agreed previously with the requisite provision made in the agreement.

5. The copyright to works, which may be created in the Future, shall not be subject to protection.

6. The author's agreement terms limiting or impeding the author from creating works under the same topic in the future shall be considered void of legal force.

7. The author's agreement running contrary to the provisions of the present Law shall be considered void of legal force.

Article 32

The author's agreement format

1. The author's agreement shall be concluded in writing. The author's agreement on publishing works in periodic editions may be concluded orally.

2. While selling computer software and databases or providing mass access to them a separate agreement policy is deemed admissible as provided for in the Law of Russian Federation "On copyright to computer software and databases".

Article 33

The author's agreement of commissioning

1. Under the author's agreement of commissioning the author pledges to create a piece of work in accordance with the agreement terms and submit it to the customer.

2. The customer shall make an advance payment to the author, which will be later discounted from the overall royalties. The size, procedure, and time of the advance payment set forth in a separate provision in the agreement.

Article 34

Responsibility under the author's agreement

1. Any party failing to fulfill or only partially fulfilling the obligations under the author's agreement shall reimburse any losses to the other party in the agreement including likely profits.

2. In case the author fails to submit the ordered piece in timely fashion as was previously agreed, he will undertake to compensate for whatever damages may have been caused to the customer.

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Section III

NEIGHBORING RIGHTS

Article 35

Applicability of neighboring rights

1. The performer's rights shall be recognized as such according to the provisions of the present Law in the following cases:

  1. the performer holds Russian citizenship;
  2. the performance or staging took place for the first time on the territory of Russian Federation;
  3. the performance has been prerecorded with the recording falling under protection in accordance with paragraph 2 of the present article;
  4. the performance, which has not been prerecorded is included in a program broadcast by air channels or cable and protected in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3 of the present article.

2. The right of the recording or soundtrack producer are recognized as such in accordance with the present Law in the following cases:

a. the producer enjoys the status of the Russian citizenship or acts as a legal entity permanently located on the territory of Russian Federation;
b. the recording was publicized for the first time on the territory of Russian Federation.

3. The rights of an organization engaged in cable or air broadcasts are recognized as such in the case when the organization is officially located on the Russian Federation territory and broadcasts with the help of transmitters located in Russian Federation.

4. The neighboring rights of foreign legal entities and private individuals on the territory of Russian Federation are recognized in accordance with the international treaties, to which Russian Federation is a party (see the Federal Law #110-F3 dated July 19, 1995.

Article 36

Subjects of the neighboring rights

1. The following entities are considered subjects of the neighboring rights: performers, records producers, and organizations broadcasting be cable or air.

2. Records producers, organizations conducting air and cable broadcasts will exercise their rights as they are specified in the present paragraph within the limits of the rights set forth in the agreement between the performer and the author of aired or cabled piece.

Any permission to use the piece received from the producer or stage director of the performance shall no cancel the need to obtain permissions from other performers participating in it as well as from the author of the performed piece.

3. The performer shall exercise the rights specified in the present section providing the copyrights applicable to the performed piece are observed.

4. In order for the neighboring rights to emerge and be exercised no formalities shall be exacted. The records producer and the performer may, for the sake of establishing their rights, use the neighboring rights protection sign, which is placed on every copy of the record and (or) its casing and consists of three element:

- the Latin latter "R" in a circle;
- the exclusive rights owner's name (or title);
- the year, in which the record was first publicized.

Article 37

Performer's rights

1. Apart from the cases provided for in the present Law, the performer will enjoy the following rights with relation to his or her performance:

- the right to the name;
- the right to protecting the performance from whichever disfiguring or disparagement that could damage the performers honor and dignity;
- the right to use the work or performance in any form including the right to royalties from any instance of using it by other parties.

2. The exclusive right to using the performance means the right to exercise or grant permission to exercise the following actions:

  1. broadcast or make known for the general public by cable the aforementioned performance, if it has not been aired or are not being aired or broadcast as a recording;
  2. record previously unrecorded performances;
  3. play back the recording of the performance;
  4. air or broadcast by table the recording of the performance provided the original record has been made for non-commercial purposes;
  5. rent the recording of the performance published for commercial purposes. At the instant of concluding the agreement on recording the performance the copyright to the recording passes to its producer; the performer retains the right to royalties for renting copies of the recording (article 39 of the present Law).

3. The performer's exclusive right stipulated in subparagraph 3 of paragraph 2 of the present article does not extend to the following cases:

- the original recording of the performance has been made with the performer's permission;
- playback of the recording is performed with the same purpose as was deemed admissible by the performer at the moment of the original recording;
- reproduction or playback of the performance with the same purpose as that, for which the recording was made in accordance with the provisions of article 42 of the present Law.

4. Permissions described in paragraph 2 of the present article will be granted by the performer and in the event of several participants performing as a group by the leader of that group by means of concluding a written agreement with the user.

5. Permissions noted in subparagraphs 1,2 and 3 of paragraph 2 shall not be exacted for subsequent broadcasts of the performance or recording it for the same purpose unless they are explicitly required by the performer's agreement with the organization conducting the broadcast. The size of royalties to the performers is also set in the above-mentioned agreement.

6. The instance of concluding an agreement between the performer and the producer of the audio-visual piece to the end of creating that piece obligates the performer to grant the rights specified in subparagraphs 1,2,3 and 4 of paragraph 2 of the present article.

The fact of granting such rights by the performer is limited by the use of the audio-visual piece and, unless specified otherwise in the agreement, does not concern rights to separate use of the soundtrack and the video sequence making up the audio-visual piece.

7. The exclusive rights belonging to the performer and accounted for in paragraph 2 of the present article may be passed to other parties under a separate agreement.

8. The rights of the soundtrack producer

1. Apart from the cases provided for in the present Law the producer of the soundtrack will enjoy exclusive copyright covering all uses of that soundtrack including the right to royalties for every instance of the soundtrack use.

2. The exclusive copyright to the soundtrack or recording means the right to perform the following actions:

1) play back the soundtrack or recording;
2) remake or in any other way refashion the soundtrack or recording;
3) distribute copies of the soundtrack, i.e. sell, rent, etc. copies of the soundtrack or recording;
4) import copies of the soundtrack or recording for the sake of distribution including copied made with the permission of the soundtrack or recording producer.

3. In the event of legitimately publicized copies entering civil circulation by means of sale further free distribution is considered admissible without permission from the soundtrack producer and payment of royalties.

The right to distribute the soundtrack or recording by renting belongs to the producer of the soundtrack or recording regardless of their right of property regarding the copies to be rented.

4. Exclusive copyright of the soundtrack producer stipulated in paragraph 2 of the present article may be passed to other parties under a separate agreement.

Article 39

Use of the soundtrack or recording publicized for commercial purposes without the performer's and the soundtrack or recording producer's permission

1. To the exclusion from the provisions of articles 37 and 38 of the present law the following actions are deemed admissible without prior permission from the producer of the soundtrack of recording publicized with commercial purposes and permission from the performer whose performance is recorded, but with payment of due royalties:

  1. public performance of the soundtrack or recording;
  2. broadcasting the soundtrack or recording;
  3. distributing the recording or soundtrack by cable.

2. Collection, distribution, and payment of royalties provided for in paragraph 1 of the present article shall be carried out by one of the organizations managing the rights of soundtrack and recording producers and performers on a collective basis (article 44 of the present law) in accordance with the agreement between these organizations. Unless provided for otherwise in the agreement the aforementioned royalties shall be equally distributed between the soundtrack and recording producers and the performer.

3. The royalty size and terms of payment are determined in an agreement between the soundtrack or recording user or organizations or associations of such users on the one hand and organizations managing the producers' and performers' rights on the other. In case the parties fail to arrive at such an agreement, the royalties will be set by a specially authorized federal government body.
The actual size of royalties shall be determined for every type of the soundtrack or recording use.

4. The soundtrack or recording users will be obligated to submits programs containing exact information on the quantity of the soundtrack or recording used as well as other documents necessary for collecting and distributing royalties to the organization, mentioned in paragraph 2 of the present article.

Article 40

The rights of broadcasting organizations

1. Apart from the cases provided for in the present Law broadcasting organizations shall enjoy exclusive rights to their programs or broadcasts and their use in any form or manner or extend permission to use those programs or broadcasts including the right to royalties for subsequent granting of such permission.

2. The exclusive right to granting permission for using the program or broadcast means the right to perform the following actions:

  1. simultaneously broadcast the program to another broadcasting organization
  2. distribute the program by cable;
  3. record the program;
  4. play back the recording of the program;
  5. display the program in public places with a paid access.

3. The exclusive right of a broadcasting organization provided for in subparagraph 4 of paragraph 2 of the present article does not extend to the cases when:

- the recording of the program was made with permission from the broadcasting organization;
- the recording was played back with the same purpose as it was originally made in accordance with article 42 of the present law.

Article 41

The rights of organizations broadcasting by cable

1. Apart from the cases provided for in the present law organizations broadcasting by cable shall exercise exclusive rights to their programs including the right to use the program in any form or manner or give permission to use it and receive royalties for providing such permission to third parties.

2. The exclusive right to extending permission to use a certain program means the right of an organization broadcasting by cable to permit performing the following actions:

  1. simultaneously broadcast the program by cable to another broadcasting organization;
  2. distribute the program by cable
  3. record the program;
  4. play back the recording of the program;
     
  5. display the program in public places with paid access.

3. The exclusive right of an organization broadcasting by cable stipulate in subparagraph 4 of paragraph 2 of the present article does not extend to the cases when:

- the recording of the program was made with permission from the organization broadcasting by cable;
- the recording was played back with the same purpose as it was originally made in accordance with article 42 of the present law.

Article 42

Rights limitations of the performer, records producer, and broadcasting organizations (including those broadcasting by cable)

1. With the exception from articles 37-41 of the present Law using performances, broadcasts, transmitting them or their recordings by air and by cable as well as playback of the soundtrack are deemed admissible without explicit permission from the performer, records producer, broadcasting organizations and payment of royalties in the following instances:

  1. for short extracts from the performance, soundtrack, or program to be included in the media news coverage;
  2. for educational and scientific purposes;
  3. for quoting short excerpts from the performance, soundtrack or program on condition that such quoting is done for informational purposes. Broadcasting organizations may use copies of the soundtrack publicized for commercial purposes for distributing to the general public only if they comply with the provisions of article 39 of the present Law;
  4. in other cases, for which provisions are made in section II of the present Law with respect to limiting property rights of authors in literature, science, and arts.

2. With the exception from articles 37-41 of the present Law using performances, broadcasts, transmitting them or their recordings by air and by cable as well as playing back the recordings for private purposes is deemed admissible without explicit permission from the performer, records producer, and broadcasting organizations.

3. The provisions contained in articles 37, 38, 40 and 41 of the present Law are considered inapplicable in cases when permissions to conduct recordings for short-term use of performances and programs and playback of such recordings and their soundtracks for commercial purposes, if the recordings have been done by the broadcasting organization with the help of its own equipment providing the following conditions have been met:

  1. a preliminary permission is obtained by the broadcasting organization to air the performance or program, with respect to which the recording for short-term use or playback of such recording is performed in accordance with the provisions of the present paragraph;
  2. the recording is destroyed within the time period, which has been set in respect to the recording conducted by the broadcasting organization for short-term use of literary, scientific, and art works in accordance with the provisions of article 24 of the present Law with the exception a sole copy, which may be preserved in official archives on the basis of its documentary nature.

4. Limitations stipulated in the present article shall be applied in such manner that they do not in any way interfere with normal utilization of the soundtrack, recording or program constituting the subject of the of the broadcast as well as literary, scientific, and art works without infringing upon the rights of the performer, broadcasting organization and the author's of the heretofore-mentioned works.

Article 43

Validity term of neighboring rights

1. The rights provided for in the present section with respect to the performer shall hold force for fifty years since the first presentation of the work or program.

The performer's rights to the name and protection of the performance from any distortion or other encroachment and established by article 37 of the present Law are considered permanent.

2. The rights stipulated in the present section concerning the recording or soundtrack producer shall remain valid for fifty years since the first instance of publicizing the recording or soundtrack or for fifty years after its first recording took place unless it has not been publicized within that period.

3. The rights of broadcasting organizations stipulated in the present section remain in force for fifty years since the moment of the first broadcast by that organization.

4. The rights of organizations broadcasting by cable stipulated in the present section remain in force for fifty years since the moment of the first broadcast by that organization.

5. Expiry of the terms mentioned in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the present article happens on January 1 of the year following the year, in which the legal occurrence of the fact constituting the reason for the term commencement was noted.

6. In the event that the performer was subjected to repression and restored in his or her rights after his or her demise the rights protection term starts on January 1 of the year following the year, in which rehabilitation occurred.

If the performer worked during or participated in World War II, the terms of rights protection stipulated in the present article is prolonged by 4 years.

7. The heirs of the performer, records producer, broadcasting organization (or legal successors for legal entities) inherit the right to permit using the performance, record or soundtrack as well as the program for airing or broadcasting by cable and exact royalties for the period remaining from the terms as they are set forth in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the present article.

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Section IV

COLLECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF PROPERTY RIGHTS

Article 44

Purpose

1. In order to insure the property rights of authors, performers, and record producers as well as other holders of copyright and neighboring rights in cases when their execution in each separate case is hampered (public performance including on the radio and television, reproduction by means of mechanical, magnetic, or any other recording, copying and other instances) organization may be founded to manage the property rights of the aforementioned persons on a collective basis.

Such organizations are started by copyright or neighboring rights holders and act within their capacity defined in the charter, which receives approval under the procedure set forth in the current legislation.

2. Separate organizations may be set up to consolidate protection of separate rights or different right holder groups. By the same token, organizations managing different rights in the interests of various right holder categories or a single organization managing copyright and neighboring rights concurrently.

Article 45

Organizations managing property rights on a collective basis

1. In accordance with the present Law any organization managing property rights on a collective basis may not engage in commercial activities.

2. Authorization to managing property rights collectively is voluntarily given by the statutory holders of copyright or neighboring rights on the basis of written agreements as well as under appropriate agreements with foreign organizations managing similar rights. Such agreements are not considered author's agreements and do not fall under the provisions of article 30-34 of the present Law.

Any author, his or her heir or any other legitimate holder of copyright or neighboring rights protected in accordance with section III of the present Law shall be entitled to delegating his property rights under a separate agreement to such an organization and the organization is compelled to accept any responsibilities related to exercising these rights on a collective basis unless managing such rights is a chartered activity for such an organization.
The aforementioned organizations may not use works or objects subject of neighboring rights managed on a collective basis.

3. Proceeding from the powers received under paragraph 2 of the present article the organization managing property rights on a collective basis will grant licenses for specific uses of the works or objects protected under the neighboring rights. Conditions of such licensing must be equal for all users of one category. The aforementioned organizations may not refuse a license to any user without a good cause.

Such licenses permit to use all works or objects of neighboring rights in any way or manner provided therein and are granted on behalf of all copyright and neighboring rights holders including those who have not authorized the organization to manage their rights in accordance with paragraph 2 of the present article.

All possible property claims of copyright and neighboring rights owners to users of their works and objects of neighboring rights under such licenses must be settled by the organization granting such licenses.

4. Organizations managing property rights on a collective basis are entitled to keeping unclaimed royalties including them to distributed amounts or directing them to any other purposes in the interests of the copyright or neighboring rights owners three years after the royalties are transferred to the organization's account.

Article 46

Functions of organizations managing property rights on a collective basis

Organization managing property rights on a collective basis shall perform the following functions on behalf of the copyright and neighboring rights holders it is representing:

1) make adjustments to royalty rates and other licensing conditions with the users;
2) grant licenses to users authorizing them to exercise the rights managed by the organization;
3) consult with the user concerning royalty rates in the cases when that organization collect royalties without granting licenses (paragraph 2 of article 26, paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 39 of the present Law);
4) collect royalties under the licenses and (or) royalties provided for in paragraph 3 of the present article;
5) distribute royalties among the copyright and neighboring rights holders in accordance with paragraph 4 of the present article;
6) undertake any legal actions necessary for protecting the rights managed by the organization;
7) conduct any other activities within the scope of powers delegated by the copyright and neighboring rights holders.

Article 47

Responsibilities of organizations managing property rights on a collective basis

  1. Activities of organizations managing property rights on a collective basis shall be pursued in the interests of the copyright and neighboring rights holders. Thus, out of that purpose the following responsibilities arise:
    Copyright and neighboring rights holders shall receive their share of royalties together with information about current use of their rights;
  2. Royalties collected under the provisions of paragraph 4 of article 46 of the present Law are meant solely for distribution among the existing copyright and neighboring rights holders. At the same time the organization may discount royalties to the amount of overheads incurred while collecting, distributing and actual payment of such royalties as well as sums submitted to special funds created by that organization with permission and in the interests of the copyright and neighboring rights holders;
  3. distribute and pay out on a regular basis collected royalties discounted for the sums indicated in subparagraph 2 of the present paragraph in proportion to the factual use of the work.

2. Copyright and neighboring rights holders failing to authorize the organization in respect to collecting royalties provided for in paragraph 4 of article 46 of the present Law are in the position to demand full payment of the royalties they are entitled to from the organization in accordance with the distribution of royalties. They may also exclude their works and objects of neighboring rights from license agreements with the user.

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Section V

PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBORING RIGHTS

Article 48

Breach of copyright and neighboring rights. Piracy

1. Violating the copyright and neighboring rights entails civil, criminal, or administrative responsibility in accordance with the current legislation.

2. Legal entities or private individuals failing to meet the requirements of the present Law stand in contempt of copyright and neighboring rights.

3. Copies of records and other pieces are recognized as falsified, if their production and distribution leads to a breach of the copyright.

4. Copies of records or other creations protected under the present Law imported without permission from their creators from the countries where their protection periods have elapsed or these rights have never been subject to protection shall be declared counterfeit.

Article 49

Civil, legal and other measures aimed at protecting copyright and neighboring rights (see Federal Law # 110-F3 dated July 19, 1995).

1. Holders of the exclusive copyright and neighboring rights are authorized to raise the following demands to the user:

  1. recognition of rights;
  2. restoring the state existing before the rights breach and stopping the activities that promote neglect regarding rights or posing a threat of their violation;
  3. compensating for losses or damages including potential profits;
  4. laying claim to a part of the income received by the violator;
  5. assigning compensation from 10 to 50000 of minimal work pay amounts as stipulated in the current legislation. The actual size of compensation is to be determined in the course of a court hearing;
  6. undertaking other measures provided for in the legislation and aimed at protecting copyright and neighboring rights.

The measures mentioned in subparagraphs of paragraphs 3, 4, 5 of the present paragraph shall be applied at the discretion of copyright and neighboring rights holder.

2. Apart from compensating for damages and losses with a fixed sum the court or arbitration institution shall impose a 10% fine for violating the copyright or neighboring rights on the plaintiff's behalf. The fines shall be transferred to appropriate budgets as stipulated in the current legislation.

3. Holders of copyright and neighboring rights are entitled to protection of their rights by appealing to court, arbitration court, state prosecution bodies in accordance with their scope of powers (see (see Federal Law # 110-F3 dated July 19, 1995).

4. Pirated copies of works, soundtracks, or records are subject to obligatory confiscation under a court, or arbitration court ruling or an order from the judge. The confiscated copies shall be destroyed unless the holder of copyright or neighboring rights chooses to take possession of them and submits a request to that effect. The court or judge in his or her own capacity as well as the arbitration court may pass a ruling on confiscating materials and equipment used to produce and reproduce the falsified copies of the works in question (see Federal Law # 110-F3 dated July 19, 1995).

Article 50

Handling claims on copyright and neighboring rights violations

1. The court or the judge in his or her own capacity as well as the arbitration court may pass a ruling on forbidding the defendant or person, against whom there are sufficient reasons to suspect a copyright or neighboring rights violation, to perform certain actions (producing, playing back, sale, renting, imports or any other use provided for in the present Law as well as transportation, storage or possession with a view of circulating copies of works and records, which are believed to be falsified). (see Federal Law # 110-F3 dated July 19, 1995)

2. The court or the judge in his or her own capacity as well as the arbitration court may pass a ruling to seize all copies of the recordings or works, which are believed to be falsified, and confiscate whatever materials and equipment were used to produce those copies (see Federal Law # 110-F3 dated July 19, 1995).

In the event of availability of sufficient evidence pointing to a copyright or neighboring rights violation the court or the judge in his or her own capacity shall undertake measures aimed at investigating and seizing the copies of the works or records believed to be falsified as well as equipment used to produce and reproduce the aforementioned copies including confiscating and submitting them for secure storage (see Federal Law # 110-F3 dated July 19, 1995).


July …, 1993 Boris Yeltsin
# 5351-1 President of Russian Federation
House of Parliament, Russia