Business proposed not to declare audiovisual works ownerless

Films, TV series and other similar content should not be subject to the regulation of orphan works that is being developed, according to the Media Communication Union (MCU). The organization, which unites TV channels and telecom operators, asks to involve its representatives in working on the bill. The ISS, like representatives of the music industry, also advocates recognizing only old works as orphan, and not just orphaned works.

“Media Communication Union” (unites Channel One, Rostelecom, MTS, Tricolor, VGTRK, Gazprom Media, etc.) in September sent a response to the bill on the use of works with an inaccessible copyright holder (orphan ), the organization told Kommersant. The Union, in particular, proposes not to classify complex and composite works as orphan, that is, audiovisual (films, TV series, animation, etc.), multimedia products, theatrical productions and various kinds of collections.

The draft amendments to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation were submitted to the State Duma on July 27 by the Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, senators Liliya Gumerova and Andrei Klishas and deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov. The document provides for the emergence in Russia of an organization that will issue non-exclusive paid licenses for orphan (orphan) works. According to the text of the draft, it is proposed to include works by those copyright holders who do not respond to “legally significant messages.” On September 27, the State Duma Council included the document in the approximate program for November.

The current version of the bill has already been criticized by the National Federation of the Music Industry (NFMI, previously uniting Warner Music, Universal Music, Sony; now the founders are not disclosed). There, in particular, they propose introducing a “statute of limitations” for intellectual property that may be considered orphan, as well as clarifying the definition itself (see Kommersant of September 10).

There are similar provisions in the position of the ISS: the union considers it correct to recognize as orphan only works “for which the absence of copyright holders has been reliably established” and to bring under regulation those of them “a significant amount of time has passed since the first publication of which.”

The ISS also requests that its representatives be included in the working group to develop the initiative as a whole. The group, according to NFMI General Director Nikita Danilov, has not yet been created: “We hope for a public discussion of the initiative.” Ms. Gumerova did not answer “Kommersant”.

Deputy head of the RSPP Committee on Intellectual Property, Anatoly Semenov, considers the fears of industry associations to be unfounded. Large collective rights management organizations already adhere to rules of due diligence when identifying the copyright holder, he emphasizes: “Any serious organization knows how to clear the rights to the works they need. It’s just that it will now become the standard for all potential licensees, not just those with the skills, money and access to databases.”

If we assume that the bill is adopted, then the proposals of creative associations “will provide the minimum necessary protection from damage to the market,” argues Alexey Byrdin, general director of the Internet Video Association. But the claims of market participants, according to him, “are of a fundamental nature and do not concern only details such as statutes of limitations.”

Mr. Byrdin, in fact, considers the initiative of the deputies unnecessary in general. In his opinion, the problem of using orphan works is insignificant, and special cases can be resolved in court: “It is worth making amendments to the Civil Code only if the courts are overloaded with similar cases on orphan works.”

Yuri Litvinenko, Yulia Yurasova