Implementing the concept of Rights Management Information into Ukrainian Copyright Law*

Roman Pokhyla

*This article is a small part translated into English of an extensive legal research on Digital Rights Management in Ukraine conducted by Roman Pokhyla within a cooperation framework between the Centre and the Ukrainian Society of Authors and Performers.

Accession of Ukraine to the World Trade Organisation earlier this year has revitalized public interest to the issues of legal protection of intellectual property. Wide scope of problems ranging from antipiracy efforts to collective rights management has entered a public debate. One of the topics frequently referred to is the implementation of international intellectual property rules into Ukrainian legislation. This survey aims to cover an important aspect of such implementation, namely the regulations on rights management information under WIPO Copyright Treaty, to which Ukraine is a party.

In general Ukrainian legislation provides an adequate modern copyright protection to the right holders. Ukraine is a party to majority of international agreements on the protection of intellectual property and a member of international organisations in this field.[1] In 2001 it acceded to the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT)[2] and in 2002 to the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)[3]. Ukraine has implemented the Treaty by adopting changes into several acts of legislation. For the most part this legislative update centred on strengthening the criminal and administrative penalties for copyright violations, yet considerable attention has also been drawn to the implementation of novel concepts framed in the WCT and WPPT, notably anticircumvention provisions and electronic rights management information[4].

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