INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND SOME PROBLEMS OF PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS IN INFORMATION AND TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Abstract

A number of international treaties apply to objects of copyright and related rights. However, only some of them touch upon the use of protected objects of creativity in information and telecommunication networks. But even these treaties do not provide rules that could be applied to cases where the misuse was carried out using an informa- tion and telecommunications network, and the violation itself is of a cross-border nature, for example, due to the offender’s belonging to the jurisdiction of one state, the implementation of actions related to making available to the public on the territory of another state, and objects of copyright and related rights are available in several states. The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center considers disputes between the parties that provided for their consideration in this international body by agreement of the parties. To date, there is no international body that would consider disputes on infringements of copyright and related rights that are of a cross-border nature in the absence of an agreement between the parties. The solution of this problem could be facilitated by the adoption of an international treaty concerning the use of the results of intellectual activity, in particular objects of copyright and related rights, in information and telecommunication networks. Such a treaty, among other things, could define the issues of jurisdiction over cross-bor- der disputes. Or, in accordance with such an international treaty, an international body (with limited competence) could be established to deal with cross-border disputes. Or such an international treaty could expand the scope of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center.