The Concept and Legal Attributes of Software as Intellectual Property
Elizabeth V. Podymova · Energy law forum · 2024
A study of software for electronic devices, its differentiating features that determine special aspects of its legal protection, development of proposals for optimization of means of protection of the indicated intellectual property considering its characteristic traits is an utterly relevant and meaningful matter against the background of the existing conditions of rapid development of the Russian digital segment and the focus on import substitution proclaimed by the state, an increasing demand in computer technologies and a broad distribution of public relations in the cyber space sphere. The article studies the attributes that characterize such non-standard object of civil rights as software, its unique features as compared to other intellectual property including works of literature where a similar copyright and legal regime is applied. Functionality is of primary importance for software rather than means of artistic expression, distinguishing attributes include a compound character, absence of a customary form or a tangible carrier, opportunity for commercialization only provided that there is legal protection from the state, multiple authors, which is not only expressed in the involvement of team work to create software from scratch but also in the use of open codes, updates based on users’ needs and application of such achievements of the contemporary science as artificial intelligence. The author studies and analyzes the doctrine and regulatory sources and offers a definition of computer software, makes a conclusion on characteristic attributes that determine the selection of the legal regime of such objects of civil rights, brings forward some proposals for legal amendments aimed at optimization of legal regulation.