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Legal protection of website content and design

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Due to the rapid development of Internet technologies, commerce is actively moving into the digital space, and websites are being created by legal entities and individuals in order to distribute their goods and services.

The design and content of the website are quite valuable assets, because they perform several important functions: they allow a potential buyer to evaluate the quality of the goods and services provided and make the manufacturer recognizable in the field of his activity. As a result, the so-called “goodwill” (“clientele”, ie, a stable economic relationship between the producer of goods and services and their consumers) is formed. However, it often happens that dishonest Internet users copy copyrighted materials from the website for their further placement on their information platforms. This largely violates the interests of the original creators of unique design and content, so the issue of legal protection and protection of these objects is currently becoming relevant.

Website Design and Content as Copyright Objects


By a web site we mean the logical connection between web pages that contain the information sought by the user that is displayed in the form of texts, images, videos, etc. The named information constitutes the content of the website. Design is, first of all, aesthetic solutions for the external design of a website, for example, templates, icons, unique color backgrounds and more. The Federal Law of July 27, 2006 No. 149- “On Information, Information Technologies and the Protection of Information” contains a definition of a website, but the features mentioned there are of great importance, among which we can single out the most important, namely, that the web A website is primarily a collection of computer programs.

Based on the foregoing, it can be concluded that the website is protected in accordance with part 4 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter - the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) as an object of copyright, namely a work of design, a photographic work and a literary work (including as a computer program).

A similar approach is taken in the United Kingdom, where legal protection for website design and content is provided on the basis of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as a literary, photographic, musical work and The Copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992, where protection is provided as computer program.

In the United States of America, The Copyright Act of 1976 extends to similar legal relations, where the design and content of the website are protected as a literary, graphic, musical or audiovisual work. Similarly, it is possible to ensure the protection of these objects and on the basis of the Berne Convention, as well as the Universal Copyright Convention.

Thus, the legal protection of the design and content of the website in the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation slightly exceeds the legal regulation in the United States of America, since the laws of the first two states separately indicate the possibility of providing such protection as a computer program, but these are only small differences in sphere of legislation, the most important is the practical implementation of legal norms.

How is website design and content protection implemented in practice?


Based on international law, the laws of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Russian Federation, the moment the start of protection of the design and content of the website is determined in a uniform manner and starts from the moment these objects are created. The person who created the named objects is their author.

The important thing is that the design and content should be expressed in an objective manner, that is, displayed on computer monitors or phone screens. They need to be creative and novel. It should also be noted that these objects will be equally protected regardless of their subjective perception by people, for example, someone may like the website design, and someone will absolutely not like it.

It is worth noting that the Civil Code of the Russian Federation indicates cases where free use of the work is allowed without the consent of the author. It is possible for scientific, educational, cultural purposes, public libraries and educational organizations can also use protected objects. Obviously, the use of such objects should not be carried out for commercial purposes, and the departure from this should be regarded as a violation of copyright. To prevent such violations it is necessary to use technical and legal methods of protection.

Ways to Protect Website Design and Content


The Civil Code of the Russian Federation indicates that no formalities (for example, registration) are required for the creation, exercise or protection of copyright.

Nevertheless, it is recommended to indicate the copyright protection mark, the description of which is given in article 1271 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation:

« :

  • «C» ;
  • ;
  • ».

It seems that this can affect potential violators purely in a psychological aspect.

It should be remembered that copyright infringement can be upheld in court or through negotiation.

Everything is quite clear with the negotiations, since success primarily depends on the skill of the parties involved in them.

With regard to judicial protection, in this case specific measures are envisaged, such as the recognition of copyright and the suppression of illegal actions. The latter may be expressed in a claim for damages and / or lost profits. The courts, when considering such disputes, will have to make sure that the person claiming the protection of their violated rights to the content and website design is indeed their author. The fact of authorship can be proved with the help of:

  1. a request from a domain name registrar;
  2. use of information about the author contained on the site;
  3. submission to the court of contracts and other acts that in any way indicate the existence of copyright.

There are also technical methods of protection, for example, affixing watermarks, signal coding, for the decryption of which a special device purchased by a conscientious user will be used. The above methods significantly impede the performance of actions that could violate the author’s right to content and website design.

In order to prove the fact of copyright infringement, it is necessary to draw up protocols for inspection of the pages of the site, which must be properly drawn up by a notary.

Total


In order to effectively protect the design and content of a website, the author first of all needs to take care of properly securing his rights to these objects. Care should be taken when communicating to users that the design and content are protected by copyright, and, in case of litigation, retain title documents for the relevant objects (for example, an agreement on the transfer of exclusive rights to the site).

If you find a violation of your rights, do not be afraid to protect them and use all legal methods for this.

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