Copyright Crisis: Implications for Trademarks

Abstract

The article considers the problem of decreasing requirements to the creative level of a work and its originality as a consequence of the general crisis phenomena of modern civilization. It is proposed to recognize the realities of modern copyright and to consider as the basis of legal protection of a work its demand by third parties. The question of substitution in business practice of a trademark by a work with a reduced level of creativity as an abuse of right in the form of circumvention of the law is considered. Disagreement is expressed with the practice of protecting the rights to a work by means intended for the protection of a trademark. The opinion is expressed that the compensation for the crisis phenomena in copyright law (lowering the requirements for the level of creativity) should be an increase in the requirements for the distinctiveness of the trademark. In the development of the concept of demand for a work as a basis for its legal protection, it is proposed to allow, subject to the independence of their creation, the recognition of two similar works based on the same source information as independent objects of copyright without establishing the priority of one of the authors.