Conflict of Laws Regulation of Copyright Relations on the Internet (comparing Russia, US and Japan)

Abstract

Terentyeva Ludmila - Assiociate Professor, Department of International Private Law, Kutafin Moscow State Law University; Senior Researcher, Information Law Laboratory, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Candidate of Juridical Sciences. Address: 20 Myasnitskaya Str., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: terentevamila@mail.ru.

The article shows the major problems of private international law on copyright. General conflict of laws rules provided by Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of 1886 are not sufficient to ensure uniform solutions to the international protection of copyrighted works. As is shown on the example of the USA, Japan and Russia the courts of the countries have a great deal of discretion to decide the applicable law for protection of copyrighted works at the international level. The problems of choice of law in the copyright are aggravated with the development of the Internet and its transnational character and limitation of territorial competence of states. The article reviews the current rules of the applicable law and suggests the most relevant rules in the context of the Internet. The article also includes the critical review of the grounds of the courts’ international jurisdiction of the USA, Japan and Russia taking into consideration the copyright infringement on the Internet.