Requirements and methods of protection of copyright and related rights: correlation of concepts

Abstract

This article is dedicated to distinguishing the concepts of «requirement» and «methods of protection». The need to distinguish between these concepts is related to the provision of civil procedural legislation, which contains various procedural consequences regarding the requirements and methods of protection that the plaintiff, through the court, applies to the defendant. It is the plaintiff who must exercise his right when applying to the court to determine his demands against the defendant and choose the way to protect his violated, unrecognized or disputed rights, freedoms or interests. The court has the duty to consider and decide the case exclusively within the limits of the stated requirements. At the same time, under certaincircumstances, the court may apply the method of protection that it considers effective, taking into account the specific circumstances of the case. Effective legal protection of copyright and/or related rights depends on the forms, methods and means ofprotection chosen by the subject of law. It should be taken into account that the requirements are specified in the methods of protection, which in turn are specified in the means of protection — sanctions. At the same time, «requirements», «methods of protection» and «means of protection» are different legal concepts, although they are mutually dependent.
 The existing legal limitation of the court, led to the emergence of such concepts as «improper method of protection» and «ineffective method of protection» in the civil procedural doctrine and law enforcement practice of the court. If the plaintiff chooses an inappropriate method of defense when applying to the court, this becomes the basis for refusing to satisfy the claims, and if the plaintiff chooses an ineffective method of protecting the violated right, it leads to the refusal to satisfy the claims.
 The conducted study of the provisions of material and procedural legislation allows us to talk about the need to make changes to the material legislation in order to clearly regulate the requirements, methods of protection and sanctions for violation of copyrightand/or related rights. In turn, such changes will make it possible to implement the general legal principle of legal certainty, which is a component of the principle ofthe rule of law.