The beginning of 2023 was fruitful for new legislative changes in the field of intellectual property. Thus, on January 1, 2023, the updated law “On copyright and related rights” entered into force.
The most interesting innovation was the protection of rights to the results of artificial intelligence (AI).
This is not about granting copyright directly to AI, so far such privileges belong only to humans (however, given the impressive success of ChatGPT, it is possible that we will witness such a change as well). The law provides for the existence of a special kind of rights (sui generis) to the so-called non-original objects generated by a computer program, that is, without the participation of a natural person. Such rights to AI-generated objects arise from persons who own property rights to the corresponding computer program. For example, ChatGPT chatbot was created by OpenAI LP Corporation.
However, the law provides for other important changes in the field of copyright protection that will interest not only specialists, but also creators and businesses:
- introduction of the criterion of originality of the work for obtaining protection, which previously in Ukraine could be found only in judicial practice;
- acquisition by default of the employer of property rights to a work created by an employee under an employment contract or contract, from the moment of its creation. This provision can also be attributed to works created to order;
- introduction of the concept of “orphan works” – these are works whose copyright holders have not been established or their location is unknown. For example, a picture of an unknown author in a museum, whose contacts and location could not be found, can be considered an orphan work.
- unification of the provision regarding the right of follow-up with EU rules. A mechanism is introduced to reward the author in case of resale of the original work, when the author and his heirs will have the right to receive a percentage of the sale price. Depending on the price of the subsequent sale, excluding taxes, the amount of fair remuneration can be from 0.25 to 6%, but not more than 12,500 euros.
- a provision has been established on the expiry of the period of validity of intellectual property rights to a work after 70 years, calculated from January 1 of the year following the year of the author’s death.
Therefore, the new law provides more effective protection of copyright, sets new standards for the protection of intellectual property in the online environment.
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