Copyright and law of advertising
Along with industrial property law, another important field of law concerning the protection of intellectual property is copyright and the neighbouring rights to copyright. The internet and new technical solutions related thereto are continuous challenges for lawyers active on this field. Our law firm provides quick, efficient and practical services to its clients in copyright matters, accompanied by provision of legal advice in connection with the law of advertising, as these legal problems often appear hand in hand.
Copyright
Copyright is that field of intellectual property, which regulates the protection of intellectual works and the interests of their authors.
An intellectual work subject to copyright is any original, unique creation deriving from intellectual activity in the fields of literature, science and art, irrespective of the actual type of the intellectual work.
In respect of copyright, there is a huge difference in the Hungarian legal regulations compared to industrial property: there is no registry for copyrighted material. Therefore, lawyers specialised in copyright have a massive responsibility from the beginning in the decision relating to the basic question: what works and creations are actually protected by copyright.
Our law firm provides the following services in relation to copyright:
Ascertaining whether the respective work or creation enjoys copyright protection or not;
Rules of free use;
Drafting and negotiating license agreements;
Questions of legal protection of computer programme creations, i.e. software, as intellectual products protected by copyright with special regard to the “USedSoft/ORACLE” judgment of the European Court of Justice, drafting and negotiating software license agreements;
Questions of open source software, copyleft issues;
Legal advice in connection with the protection of databases as intellectual works protected by copyright;
Questions relating to the deposit at Voluntary Register of Works, submission of the request;
Legal advice on publishing books and recording songs and music;
Legal representation of authors, writers and composers in cases relating to copyright;
Legal advice relating to the preparation of cinematographic works, drafting and negotiating agreements related thereunto;
Legal representation before the societies of collective management of copyrights (amongst others, ARTISJUS, EJI, HUNGART, FILMJUS, MAHASZ), legal advice on the rules of depositing works with the above organizations;
- Litigation in copyright issues and in cases of copyright violation.
Neighbouring rights to copyright
This field of law deals with the protection of rightholders of the neighbouring rights. These persons are not authors, but the nature of their activities, the form, quality and manifestation of the final “result” substantiates the need for their legal protection as well.
Our law firm focuses in particular on the protection and legal representation of the rightholders of the neighbouring rights.
These rightholders are performers (singers, musicians, actors), phonogram and film producers and radio and television organizations.
In this context, we provide legal services in the following areas:
Legal representation before the societies of collective management (ARTISJUS, EJI, FILMJUS, MAHASZ);
Legal advice on the rules of depositing works with the societies of collective management;
Drafting and negotiating license agreements;
Advice in merchandising questions;
Legal representation and advice in connection with the YouTube Partner Program.
Law of advertising
Questions arising in this field require a complex legal approach.
Advertisements are often works protected by copyright, and artists creating advertisements or appearing in them have copyrights or neighbouring rights connected to copyright. The campaigns and logos prepared by advertising agencies often involve trade mark law related questions.
Furthermore, the methods and forms of advertising are always changing. The related legal environment often follows these changes with a considerable lag. Accordingly, we are convinced that it is of the utmost importance for clients to take into account the knowledge of competent legal experts in this field.
We provide legal advice in the following areas:
Drafting and negotiating assignment and venture agreements relating to the preparation of advertisements;
Legal opinions on advertisements;
Comparative advertising;
Direct marketing, BTL, ATL related questions;
Advertising campaigns and lotteries, legal representation before the competent authorities;
Cases involving deception of consumers;
- Facebook advertising campaigns.