Due to the problem of territoriality, identification of the applicable law to cross-border copyright relations is determined primarily by the national law and order of the state in which territory the rights to the work are protected. Nowadays, conflict of laws issue with respect to relations not directly connected with the author economic interests remains outside the scope of international legal regulation and is covered by national law and legal practice only partially. The authors of the research conclude that the current trends in the development of conflict of laws regulation of cross-border copyright relations that are not directly connected with the commercial exploitation of a work are the use of the stable connecting factor as follows: - “the law of the state where the protection is claimed” of the work (lex loci protectionis) - when identifying the protectability of foreign works in the host territory, regulating public domain issues, classifying types and establishing the scope of moral rights of a foreign author; - “the law of the state where the protection is claimed” of the work (lex loci protectionis) and “the law of the state of origin” of the work (lex loci originis) - when establishing authorship of a foreign work.

Private international law has a unique methodological tool that is able to adapt flexibly to the significant social transformations caused by the spread of information and communication technologies. In the conditions of formation of the network society built in logic of scaling of horizontal cross-border relations, law seriously evolves, rethinks and redefines itself. The legal space becomes only a part of a wider normative field, the individual arrays of which already surpass the law in their regulatory impact. The volume of non-state regulation is increasing, eroding the rigid foundation of legal matter. There is a conflict of law and non law, which in the conditions of heterarchicity of regulatory systems and intensification of co-regulation processes, requires streamlining. The relevant tools for overcoming the conflict of law inherent in private international law are avant-garde, carrying a significant potential, capable to create patterns in the context of the collision of different regulatory systems, for example, national law and lex mercatoria. The present work is devoted to the study of trends in the evolution of methodological tools of private international law in the context of the transformation of law in a network society.

At present time the attractiveness of offshore companies and offshore business is declining due to implementation by states of the BEPS plan, establishment of automatic exchange of financial information, as well as regular leaks of information about the beneficiaries of offshore companies. At the same time, the author analyzes the methods of use of offshore companies that continue to be relevant: minimizing the taxation of the real estate transactions by way of indirect sell of real estate property; protection of property against raider attacks; storage of wealth, including by means of transfer of the property to a trust; use offshore companies in maritime business; and the use of nominal services by offshore companies owners who are interested in maintaining the confidentiality of its ownership through entering into agreements with nominee shareholders on the ownership of company’s shares; use of foreign law and foreign jurisdiction including in conducting IPO abroad. The article also discusses the new legislative rules entered in the number of offshore jurisdictions, which establish the requirement of “economic presence” (economic substance) for companies registered in such jurisdictions. These rules will entail additional costs for the company’s owners, and as a result further reduce the attractiveness of offshore companies for Russian businessmen.

On the 14th of December, 2018, the new set of rules for taking of evidence in international commercial arbitration was signed - Rules on the Efficient Conduct of Proceedings in International Arbitration (Prague Rules). The Prague Rules was drafted by a working group formed of representatives from predominantly continental system of law. In essence, the Prague Rules seek to promote procedural efficiency in international arbitration by adopting procedures more akin to a civil law inquisitorial style. Thus, the Prague Rules are designed to offer an alternative to the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration (the IBA Rules), which is based on the common law adversarial style. It is expected that the application of the Prague Rules will lead to the proactive role by arbitral tribunals. This, in turn, will allow for quicker and more cost-efficient arbitral proceedings. In this regard, the article attempts to analyze the main provisions of the Prague Rules in comparison with the IBA Rules. According to the results of the analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that the adoption of the Prague Rules will play an important role in increasing the efficiency of arbitral proceedings and the attractiveness of this method of dispute resolution to the international business community.

The article reveals the features of monetary obligations in international commercial turnover. It is proposed to distinguish between commercial regulatory cash obligations, commercial enforcement of monetary obligations and commercial settlement of a monetary obligation. The article focuses on regulatory monetary obligations as a kind of regulatory civil-legal relations of international character. The article shows the sectoral specificity of the regulation of monetary obligations in private international law on the basis of the principles and norms of international trade law. In connection with the use of foreign currency in the specification and execution of these monetary obligations, the issues of the value content of the monetary obligation and the legal aspects of the currency of debt and the currency of payment are highlighted

This article is devoted to the practice of conclusion and execution of contracts for the carriage of dangerous goods by sea, complicated by a foreign element. The importance of the Institute of commercial contract to neutralize the risks of damage in relation to the ship, cargo, as well as freight is shown. Risks are considered as one of the additional criteria for determining the applicable law, occurrence, change, as well as termination of legal relations. The regulatory function of security and obligation transactions also includes title issues. The article investigates the procedure for the implementation of property rights in the contract of carriage of dangerous goods by sea. The choice of law is then complex. The prerequisites for the application of the most competent law, their place in the Statute of obligations, the importance of the autonomy of the will of the parties are highlighted.

The Concept, considered in the article, is based on the teachings of the outstanding German lawyer Friedrich Karl von Savigny, who singled out and systematized all the components of public order in private international law. The merit of the followers of F. K. Savigny is the separation of the two types (classes) of peremptory norms (peremptory and super-imperative) that he singled out into two spheres of the country’s unified public order (in the meaning of civil law and the meaning of private international law). Certain F K. The Savigny limits of the application of foreign law (the sphere of public order within the meaning of private international law), based on two groups of peremptory norms (laws of strictly compulsory nature and good morals), have received the names of positive and negative reservations in modern doctrine. The separation in the XX century of the said reservations to different articles of the legislation does not change the essence of the Concept of F K. Savigny does not take super-peremptory norms beyond the limits of public order within the meaning of private international law, since both protective clauses are based on the same public interests (publica utilitas, public interests). In that part of the Concept of public order of the country, which refers to the field of public order within the meaning of private international law, it is necessary to distinguish between rules formed on the basis of public interests (material norms - unilateral conflict rules - bilateral imperative conflict norms) and exceptions (reservations about the scope of application of foreign the rights). Protective reservations, like any reservations (comments, additions), are only part of the whole (Concept).

The present article is devoted to the two systems of annulment of investment arbitration awards: the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) system and non-ICSID systems. Special attention is paid to the procedure of annulment of arbitral awards by national courts. The article demonstrates that laws of other states contain provisions for annulment of arbitral awards. The article analyses several cases which demonstrate the procedure of annulment of arbitral awards by national courts. Attention is also paid to the provisions that deal with the grounds and mechanism for annulment of an award as set out by the ICSID Convention. Under the non-ICSID system an arbitral award may be set aside according to the grounds provided by a court and under the laws of the state where it was rendered. It is stated that the mechanism for annulment of investment arbitration awards set up in the ICSID Convention is a fully autonomous procedure, and arbitration is independent from any national legal system. The most frequently used grounds for annulment of arbitral awards are: improper constitution of the tribunal, manifest excess of powers, failure to state reasons.

The article raises issues of validity of the international choice of court consumer agreements in favor of foreign jurisdiction taking into account the worldwide practice of concluding agreements on electronic platforms. The author addresses the issue of the conditions of consumer contracts on changes in domestic territorial jurisdiction in order to assess their possible extrapolation to cross-border relations. Based on an analysis of Russian legislation and judicial practice, the author formulates the conditions for providing the consumer with protective jurisdiction.

The article deals with the legal fate of companies registered in the UK in the light of the state's exit from the integration association. The article provides different scenarios of what will happen in case of Brexit. The article concludes that the absence of an agreement between the EU and the UK will put the «freedom to establishment» of the companies incorporated under the UK law under question which in turn will increase litigation.

The development of technological innovations, the globalization of the world economy, as a result of the interaction of national economies of countries, the growth of investments, has led to the evolution of both Russian law and the law of foreign states. Currently, the development of innovation, the digitalization of the economy, the commercialization of intellectual property has led to the modernization of the legal regulation of this type of crossborder private law relations. Universal conventions that have been adopted by states provide a minimum level of protection for copyright and related rights. The problem of qualification, applicable law, conflicts also occurs in the field of intellectual property. Digitalization of the national economies of states leads to the evolution of legal regulation of cross-border contractual obligations, non-contractual cross-border obligations, as well as intellectual property. Currently, there is a tendency towards harmonization and unification of intellectual property within the EU, CIS, taking into account new realities in the economy and law. Modernization of the economy has led to the need to transform national law, both in the Russian Federation and in foreign countries. In turn, in science, the interdisciplinary approach has become most relevant for the vision of new problems in the legal regulation of both private law and public law relations, with the goal of filling in the future, gaps in law.

The article discusses the issues and main directions of non-state regulation of cross-border relations in the field of intellectual property protection in the framework of the activities of international organizations and various professional associations. Differentiated approaches to self-regulatory activities and harmonization processes in the field of intellectual property protection depending on its objects are noted. The author comes to the conclusion about the formation of the legal order Lex proprietas intellectualis as a set of non-state regulators, which are a regulating array of rules that is an integral part of information on intellectual property and follows it regardless of the country where protection is sought, where registration is made, etc., and also its differentiation into two separate legal orders: Lex proprietas industrialis and Lex proprietatis librariae, applied to the regulation of industrial property and copyright, respectively.

This article provides a short historical excursion into the 9 editions of Incoterms from 1936 to 2020, and focuses on the new edition of Incoterms 2020. International commercial terms Incoterms - is one of the most famous collection of trading customs around the world. Currently, the following Inco terms publications have been published in 1936, 1953, 1967, 1976, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010. On January 1, 2020, the official publication of the new 9th edition of Incoterms is planned, including in Russian. Already the official launch of Incoterms(r)2020 was carried out on September 10, 2019. The new edition has undergone major changes. Moreover, prior to the period of the official publication of the new edition, the press published a lot of unofficial information containing conflicting facts about the contents of Incoterms 2020. The author of this article tried to analyze the main ones by changing Incoterms 2020, using only reliable information contained in the official publications of the ICC.

The electronic system for voluntary registration of audiovisual work formats created by the international non-governmental organization FRAPA, as well as some well-known electronic copyright registration systems at various levels, are analyzed. The criteria of electronic system suitable for international registration of format rights are formulated.

The transnational economic community of the hydrocarbon industry players or societas petroleatorum, including the largest oil and gas companies and their associations, specialized international intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, arbitrations, experts and scientists, generates an equally unique set of ordinary lex petrolea rules, acting to regulate crossborder relations between States and foreign investors in the hydrocarbon exploration and development sector. States, because of their sovereignty, do not make a deal according to foreign law, and investors, in turn, do not trust the host jurisdiction. Lex petrolea in this sense provides the regulatory neutrality that the parties seek by denationalizing the applicable law and reducing commercial and legal risks. The author substantiates the concept of lex petrolea in private international law, analyzes the reasons behind its spread, based on the doctrine and practice of international investment arbitration. This article also considers the problem of qualification of investments in the oil and gas sector.

No matter how global and transnational the business of its beneficiaries is, no matter what models of indirect ownership are used, the family has been and remains a traditional channel for preserving, increasing and transferring assets to future generations. The massive use of offshore and trust schemes has become commonplace for Russian entrepreneurship, when domestic civil circulation is literally flooded with nominal structures originating from foreign jurisdictions. This article contains comparative analysis of the trust institute in the main jurisdictions of applicability - Britain and the USA, and also includes examine of influence of the institute on court practice development in the Russian Federation. Given the experience of high-profile divorce proceedings in recent years, the author is trying to answer the question of whether trust property is subject to division in case of divorce of spouses, if one of them is the beneficiary.

In the view of changes in legal reality connected with transformation of the regulatory scope, the general principles of cross-border have significantly strengthened the position of cross-border commercial transactions regulator. However, the following issues are still on the agenda: how to use the general principles of cross-border trade to effectively simplify the regulation of cross-border transactions and align the practice of resolving cross-border commercial disputes. General principles, being a fundamental notion, have no use for "national" qualification. It is article 7 of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods 1980 (hereinafter - Convention) which takes into account the said peculiarity of the general principles through the lens of, inter alia, international practice in the application of the Convention.

Today there is an increased interest to the relations arising in the electronic environment, to the relations, one of the participants of which is artificial intelligence. This article is devoted to the analysis of relations in which an electronic agent is involved. The article examines the approaches to the concept of the electronic agent as a computer program and a system, stipulates the comparative characteristics of the electronic agent with the "traditional" agent, substantiates the specifics of the participation of the electronic agent in the relationship. The author researches the relations arising between the principal, the electronic agent and the third party and comes to the conclusion that both the principal and the third party can act as represented at the same time. The article presents the author’s classification of the electronic agents. The article deals with the issue related to the legal personality of the electronic agent. The problem of qualification of the electronic agent in cross-border relations is described. The author considers what conflict-of-laws references can be the basis for determining the applicable law.

This work is aimed to analyze some specific issues of the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements in Russian in the absence of foreign treaties. Despite the fact that provisions of procedural codes provide for the need of international treaty to enforce foreign judgement, many courts broadly interpret these provisions, allowing enforcement without such treaty with reference to international comity. However, this approach is not well-established, and existing judicial practice which formally interprets aforemen tioned provisions has a negative impact on the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of Russian and foreign persons. The author believes that a refusal to recognize and enforce a foreign judgment can contradict to the international obligations of the Russian Federation, in particular, the duty to ensure the right to a fair trial.

The article is devoted to the origin and the history of the development of amicus curiae as well as its role in international public law and international private law at the present time. Being used in times of Roman law, the institution was continued in Anglo-American legal systems and is used internationally to date. Many cases in international courts, international commercial and investment arbitration tribunals are not examined without amicus curiae. Nevertheless, there are certain issues to be resolved. Using example of the specific case from the field of international civil procedure, the author analyzes the problem of participation of the foreign state as amicus curiae.