Inheritance of property copyrights: problems of legal regulation

The article considers certain problematic aspects of the inheritance of property copyrights. It was established that the legislation on notary is not coordinated with the legislation on copyright in terms of the inheritance of property copyrights. It has been proven that notaries must have the professional courage to apply the presumption of authorship registering hereditary rights to works. It is proposed to supplement the legislation on notary and copyright with provisions that in the event of registration of an inheritance, which includes property copyrights to a work, the notary can apply the presumption of authorship to issue a certificate of the right to inherit property copyrights. It has been proven that the provisions of Art. 32 of the Law of Ukraine «On Copyright and Related Rights» must be applied by notaries as norms of direct effect. These statutory provisions do not provide for any «conditions» or «preconditions» for the inheritance of proprietary copyrights, in particular, such as "copyright registration". It is substantiated that the law does not make the inheritance of property copyrights dependent on the presence or absence of a certificate of copyright registration, and the lack of copyright registration by the testator should not be an obstacle to the issuance of a certificate of the right to inheritance. It is established that property copyrights, which are the object of inheritance, must be valid at the time of the opening of the inheritance. The need to adopt legislative changes regarding the «unity» of property copyrights that are part of the inheritance is substantiated, providing for the possibility of issuing a certificate of the right to inheritance to each heir to property copyrights for a complete work. It has been proven that in disputes about the recognition of property copyrights in the order of inheritance, the proper defendants should be other heirs who accepted the inheritance, or the local self-government body, if there are no other heirs who accepted the inheritance or there are no other heirs. It is also possible to challenge the notary's actions in court (regarding the refusal to issue a certificate of the right to inheritance, which includes property copyright).