Preservation of Ukraine’s cultural heritage during the war in the context of digitalization, formation of the practice of authors’ disclosure of information about the inclusion of AI-generated objects in their works, implementation of copyright legislation in view of European integration processes – these and other issues were highlighted by Liubov Maidanyk, Deputy Director of the IP Office (UANIPIO), while participating in the Scientific Work Protection Committee (originally – UBVA) Symposium in Copenhagen (Denmark).

 

The event was devoted to copyright in the international and national perspective and brought together IP law experts from different countries.

 

In her presentation, Liubov Maidanyk focused on the copyright issues that Ukraine faces while approximating its national legislation to the acquis EU and the ongoing Russian war of aggression against our country.

 

Thus, according to her, the issue of preserving Ukraine’s cultural heritage in times of war is extremely important. After all, today no cultural heritage site is safe from enemy attacks: some of these sites have been destroyed, some museum collections have been stolen and appropriated by Russians, and some cultural heritage institutions are under temporary occupation. That is why creating digital copies of museum objects is now one of the most effective mechanisms for preserving cultural heritage.

 

“The Law of Ukraine “On Copyright and Related Rights”, which came into force on January 1, 2023 implemented the so-called copyright exception for the preservation of cultural heritage contained in Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive)”, – noted Liubov Maidanyk.

 

 

The Deputy Director of the IP Office emphasized that the law explicitly states that museums, archives and libraries have the right to reproduce a work in digital format without contacting the copyright holder, even if the term of property rightі to the work has not expired, precisely for preserving this work.

 

“This particular exception to copyright gives every museum, archive and library in Ukraine the opportunity to digitize their collections without violating the rights of the author. In times of war, this has become an effective tool for preserving cultural heritage,” believes Liubov Maidanyk.

 

In addition, the speaker shared information about the 34 Poles of Creativity: Copyright in the Creative Industries project, which aims to help creators with intellectual property protection and develop appropriate legal instruments. Over the year and a half of the project’s activity, a number of recommendations for digitizing museum collections have been developed, as well as samples of basic contracts for the granting and transfer of property rights that can be useful to Ukrainian museums at different stages of digitization (contract for digitization of museum objects; license agreement; agreement on the creation of a virtual exposition of a museum collection; donation agreement).

 

Liubov Maidanyk also drew attention to the formation in Ukraine the practice of disclosure by authors of information about the inclusion of AI-generated objects in their works,, which is in line with the EU AI Act. This approach ensures compliance with the principle of transparency and prevents copyright abuse.

 

During the symposium, participants discussed the following issues:

 

• the impact of еру EU law on Danish copyright;

 

• relations between national courts and the EU Court of Justice;

 

• contradictions between public, European and national law on the example of the RAAP judgments;

 

• the EU Court of Justice’s finding a balance between copyright, freedom of expression and other fundamental rights;

 

• the interrelation between copyright and freedom of expression/information on the example of the Mermaid case;

 

• the interrelation between copyright, personal privacy protection and other conflict of laws on the example of the Arne Herløv Petersen case;

 

• copyright and appropriation (national and international trends in the development of art from the copyright perspective);

 

• global copyright – the importance of US law for Danish copyright.

 

“Such issues are relevant for Ukraine in the context of national legislation harmonisation with the acquis EU, as well as development and strengthening of the national system of intellectual property legal protection, in particular copyright”, – said Liubov Maidanyk.

 

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Roadmap of Cooperation with WIPO: meeting between UANIPIO and WIPO TDC Division