On February 11, the ALRUD law firm hosted a conference titled “Complex objects: should their legal list be expanded?” for legal practitioners. The event was organized by IP Club in collaboration with the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and ALRUD. Moderators included IP Club President and Chair of the Coordination Center’s Legal Committee Marina Rozhkova, alongside the Coordination Center’s Deputy Director for Legal Affairs Sergey Kopylov.
Participants discussed the relevance of the existing closed list of complex objects under the Russian Civil Code and potential approaches to expanding it in light of modern digital realities. Technological advancements and new content formats have raised legal questions regarding diverse types of online content.
Yekaterina Yevteeva, Legal Counsel at the Coordination Center and IP Club Executive Secretary, addressed the conference, proposing a discussion on whether database protection could be treated as a complex object under a standalone legal regime.
Ms Yevteeva noted that applying the complex object framework to databases does not introduce new protection criteria but instead narrows safeguards and establishes rights management mechanisms for databases incorporating protected intellectual property (IP) assets. She emphasized that classifying databases as complex objects has generated significant debate over the necessity of such measures, provided that the primary goal was to regulate rights allocation.
“Would it not be more practical to enhance protections for IP assets within existing legal frameworks?” she questioned.
“Ultimately, the focus on databases has shifted less toward balancing the interests of creators, users, and society, and more toward the complex legal assessment of how to protect databases,” she added.
