By resolution of October 10, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a mechanism for protecting the personal non-property rights of the author regarding works that have passed into the public domain, in the absence of heirs.
This procedure eliminates the gap that arose after the adoption last year of the new law “On copyright and related rights”, which added the possibility of protecting non-property rights to works in the public domain of the deceased author, but the mechanism was not defined.
The new regulation defines the procedure for submitting and considering an application for protection; the requirements for the documents attached to the application are established; the terms of its review are determined.
In order to protect the personal non-property rights of the author whose work has passed into the public domain, in the absence of heirs, a natural or legal person can apply to the Ministry of Economy with a relevant application. The IP office will consider this application and prepare an expert opinion on the presence or absence of signs of violation of the author’s personal non-property rights.