The role of authorship in the era of integration was discussed at the Rospatent conference
19.04.2024
On April 18, 2024, experts discussed the role of an author in the era of integration during the International Scientific and Practical Conference “AUTHOR – 2024”.
The conference was opened by the head of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), Yuri Zubov: “I am pleased to note that the geography of our conference is constantly expanding, the number of participants includes representatives from 15 countries. This means that in Russia, the results of intellectual activities are acquiring special significance. They are becoming the main factors in the development of production, determining the success and sustainability of the innovative development in various countries.
Intellectual property in the modern economy plays the role of a supporting structure and a valuable strategic asset, where enormous scientific and technical potential is concentrated. It serves to increase the level of state economic independence, determines its national status. We see clear that the issues of IP rights are capturing new areas, including all aspects of science, technology, literature and art. We are already discussing the problems of computer applications, artificial intelligence, virtual property and much more.”
The director of the International Scientific and Educational Center “UNESCO Chamber on Copyright, Related, Cultural and Information Rights” of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Mikhail Fedotov, also noted the growing interest in this event from participants from various countries: “The number of participants is growing. 534 people have registered for this conference. Of course, it’s very good: representatives from almost all earth continents are here, at our conference.”
The President of the Eurasian Patent Office, Grigory Ivliev emphasized the importance of an author in the context of integration associations formation: “Without an author, without his/her intellectual activities, there would be no goods, the issue of their moving would not arise, the possibility of creating new industries based on the ideas of authors and their integration would not be studied”.
The Chairperson of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture, Lilia Gumerova, spoke as well about an author being the source of intellectual property: “The Federation Council, the Council on Intellectual Property under the Chairperson of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, prioritizes the development of IP institute in our country. Quite effective legislation has been formed in this area. We are talking about securing the legal basis for the commercialization of IP results, the law on geographical indications, the law on patent attorneys. Currently, the process of building a comprehensive system of IP management in the regions is underway. Already 79 Russian Federation subjects have identified leaders in the area of scientific and technological development of intellectual property, a pilot project for the implementation and development of this institute has been launched in 20 regions. We realize that the source of intellectual property is an author, his/her work. Without an author, this institute would not exist. It is important that our conference today aims to study issues related to authorship in the era of integration. The Committee is ready to work out your possible proposals, including legislative ones, on this topic”.
Rory Waller, Commissioner of the South Africa on Companies and Intellectual Property, welcomed the conference participants, noting the importance of the topics raised at the event: “Since ancient times, authors as creators of knowledge have made a significant contribution to the development of the society. Information expressed in their works of art and material form builds the basis of any society and serves as a source of entertainment, knowledge and even wisdom”.
Victoria Panova, Director of the Center “Expert Council on Participation of the Russian Federation in BRICS”, drew attention to the need for close cooperation at the international level: “We must think about how to build a system for protecting IP rights in the interests of the global majority”.
Pavel Spitsyn, Head of the World Intellectual Property Organization Office in the Russian Federation, in turn, noted that the organization is ready to provide the necessary assistance in strengthening cooperation in the field of copyright.
Advisor to the Secretariat of the Commission for UNESCO, Ksenia Gaverdovskaya, noted the importance of today’s event focus on the fundamental and ever-relevant concept of authorship, recalling the responsibility of authors to the society, so it is crucial to find a balance between universal norms, the need to deepen cooperation at the regional level and the preservation of national legal traditions.
The participants of the plenary session also discussed the basic formulas of the general theory of authorship, trends in the development of copyright and related industries in the era of digitalization, the role and place of an author in the generative content of neural networks and much more.
The audience was greatly interested in the report of the Chairman of the Berne Union Assembly, Chairman of the Board of the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, PhD of Sciences, Professor Kamran Imanov, who spoke about the right to protect authorship and the inventor’s right of authorship, as well as the contradictions arising in this field today. One of them is related to national sovereignty of authorities, another – to the process of integrating projects at the international level, etc.
Nevertheless, despite the difficulties, “the system of intangible property in our country is organized at a very high level. High standards, a well-thought-out theoretical basis, strong law enforcement agencies – this is probably one of the few areas that is developing smoothly and constantly,” – shared his opinion the managing partner of the Nextons company in St. Petersburg, Viktor Naumov.
The laboratory head, PhD of Technical Sciences, Professor of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, Roman Omorov, shared practical knowledge in his report on citation indices for scientific publications of scientists and specialists: “The Hirsch index or h-index (h) is a scientometric citation indicator proposed by H. Hirsch to assess the effectiveness of scientific activities, initially by physicists. Later, this indicator was extended to all fields of science, but comparative indicators of h-index for different fields of science are very different from each other. The most critical attitude to this indicator is shown by humanitarian researchers”.
The problematic issue of legal protection of medical developments in the United States was raised by Peter B. Maggs, Professor of the University of Illinois, Associate Member of the UNESCO Chair at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics. He said that in 2023, the United States adopted a law called the Inflation Reduction Act, which, according to the speaker, departs from the tradition of equal conditions for patent protection of inventions in different fields and reduces the effective use of patents for many pharmaceuticals.
Michelangelo Pascali, Associate Professor of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Naples named after Federico II, spoke on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in juridical sphere. In particular, he noted the risk of the disappearance of the creative element of legal development, determined by human thought, as a result of the use of AI. At the same time, these tools can reveal new or overlooked legal aspects that will be useful in lawyers’ professional activities.
“The convenience of using artificial intelligence can lead to the practice of slavish “adaptation” to algorithms. After all, they can work in the mode of complete “impenetrability” of decision-making processes. This makes it impossible to understand them and raises concerns about the transparency of their results in the legal area. It’s quite important to achieve awareness of the procedures for specific decisions”, Pascali concluded.
The second section of the conference was devoted to the legal regulation of social relations, the protection of ideas as intellectual property. The section was moderated by Oleg Neretin, Director of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property.
“AUTHOR – 2024” is being held for the fourth time, and it is traditionally timed to coincide with the International Book and Copyright Day (April, 23), declared by UNESCO, and the World Intellectual Property Day (April, 26), declared by WIPO.
The conference was organized by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS), the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), the International Scientific and Educational Center “UNESCO Chamber on Copyright, Related, Cultural and Information Rights” of the National Research University – Higher School of Economics (UNESCO Chamber of the National Research University – Higher School of Economics), the Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property (RGAIS).
The conference was held with the support of the Publishing House “Intellectual Property”.