On April 22, the Russian Intellectual Property Week opened with a panel discussion “Significant Precedents in the field of IP / IT”, organized jointly by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, IP CLUB and the Center for International and Comparative Legal Research. Its participants were the organizers and partners of IP&IT LAW 2024 - the 9th All-Russian youth competition on the law of information technology and intellectual property, the winners of which were awarded at the finals of the event. The event was broadcast online on the official YouTube channel of the Coordination Center.
Pavel Spitsyn, Director of the Russian Representative Office of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), delivered a welcoming speech. The co-moderators of the event were the Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev and the president of IP CLUB, Doctor of Law, Marina Rozhkova. Invited speakers presented impulse reports that laid the foundation for the discussion. Thus, Ekaterina Kalinicheva (Semenov&Pevzner) suggested discussing whether the summary is a revision or a new work. Ilya Khodakov (ALRUD) raised the question of legal protection of videos created using AI tools, in particular Deep-fake technology. Artyom Evseev (Savina Legal) spoke about the problems of registering geographical connotations in trademarks. Alexandra Yorsh (Ph.D., Vice-President of IP CLUB) made a presentation “The Identity of the Copyrighted Object is not a Reason for Refusing to Collect Compensation.”
After the panel discussion, a ceremonial presentation of awards and memorable prizes took place to the winners of the IP&IT LAW 2024, which is annually held by the IP CLUB together with the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Traditionally, the distribution of places among the laureates of the main nomination was kept secret until the moment of awarding. Based on the results of the collegial assessment of the jury, which included experts in the field of intellectual property and information technology law, and taking into account the creative nature, originality, completeness of disclosure of the stated topic, the presence of constructive ideas and proposals, the authors of the best works were:
- 1st place | Matvey Chernyshov, “Issues of Legal Protection of Algorithms” (master’s student at St. Petersburg State University)
- 2nd place | Konstantin Kraulin, “Prospects for Compulsory Licensing of Copyright Objects in the Russian Federation Based on the Example of the Experience of the Republic of Belarus” (postgraduate student, Faculty of Law, State Academic University for the Humanities).
- 3rd place | Alexander Babenko, “Regulation of Generative Neural Networks” (graduate of the Saratov State Law Academy)
It should be noted that this year the IP&IT LAW competition received about 90 works, which were presented by young researchers from 15 regions of Russia.
Also among the winners of the IP&IT LAW 2024 competition:
— in the special category of the Alliance in the field of Artificial Intelligence:
- 1st place | Alexander Babenko, “Regulation of Generative Neural Networks” (Saratov State Law Academy)
- 2nd place | Ivan Vishnyakov, “Regulation of Generative Neural Networks” (Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation)
- 3rd place | Alexander Osokin, “Regulation of Generative Neural Networks”, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov
— in the special category of the ALRUD law firm:
Konstantin Kraulin, “Prospects for Compulsory Licensing of Copyright Objects in the Russian Federation Based on the Example of the Experience of the Republic of Belarus,” (State Academic University for the Humanities)
— in the special category of the law firm Semenov & Pevzner:
Nikita Peremit, “Methods of Combating Trolling in the Field of Copyright and Other Types of Trolling” (St. Petersburg Institute - branch of the RPA of the Ministry of Justice of Russia)
— in the special category of the law company Savina Legal:
Semyon Komarov, “Issues of Legal Protection of Algorithms” (Moscow University named after A.S. Griboyedov)
The IP&IT LAW competition has been held since 2015. In 2018, he was awarded the “Runet Prize” in the special nomination “For his contribution to the development of legal thought in the digital society”, and in 2022 it was listed in the rating of the main legal competitions and academic competitions “Pravo.Ru”.
Among the goals of IP&IT LAW 2024 is to identify promising areas in the field of “digital law”, protection of intellectual rights in the digital environment and legal support of e-business; stimulating the growth of research activities; attracting state and public attention to the legal aspects of the digital economy.
The partners and information sponsors of the competition in 2024 were: Alliance in the Field of Artificial Intelligence, School of Law “Statute”, “Garant” system, law firm “Zuykov and Partners”, Russian Agency for Legal and Judicial Information, “Consultant Plus” system, Academy of Law, Journal of Digital Technologies and Law and International Journal of Law in Changing World and others.
