Romas D. Civil Liability for Copyright Infringement

This dissertation reviews the defining the features of civil liability for copyright infringement, as well as to the development of scientific and theoretical proposals for solving problematic issues in the field of legal regulation of copyright. The paper proposes to define the concept of civil liability for copyright infringement as a civil legal relationship provided for by law or contract, aimed as protecting the rights and interests of the subject of copyright, arising as a result of illegal, usually culpable, behavior of a person, which violates property and personal non-property copyright, and provides for the infringer to bear the negative consequences of a property nature. The following signs of civil liability for copyright infringement have been identified: 1) the reason for the occurrence is a civil offense; 2) the conditions of occurrence of liability are the infliction of damage, the illegal behavior of the person causing the damage, the cause-and-effect relationship between the damage and the illegal behavior, fault (it can be regardless of fault in exceptional cases); 3) occurs in violation of both the law and contractual obligations; 4) measures of responsibility are compensation for damages, compensation for moral damage and payment of compensation; 5) the subject composition of the legal relationship consists of the author and other persons who can be both victims of copyright infringement and violators (in exceptional cases). It has been established that the basis for civil liability for copyright infringement is a civil offence, which can arise both from the violation of the law (tort liability) and the terms of the contract (contractual liability). The objective conditions for the occurrence of civil liability for copyright infringement are illegal behavior, causing damage, and cause-and-effect relationship.