Copyright, Defamation, and Privacy in Soviet Civil Law : De Lege Lata Ac Ferenda.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levitsky, S. Z.

Series:

Law in Eastern Europe Series

Law in Eastern Europe Series ; v.22

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Copyright--Soviet Union.

Copyright.

Privacy, Right of--Soviet Union.

Privacy, Right of.

Libel and slander--Soviet Union.

Libel and slander.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (508 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Copyright, Defamation, and Privacy in Soviet Civil Law

Place of Publication:

Boston : BRILL, 2024.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

PREFACE

Part One: Defamation

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

I. SECTION 7 PROVIDES FOR PROTECTION OF PERSONAL NON-PROPERTY INTERESTS

II. PROTECTION CONSISTS IN RESTORATION OF THE STATUS QUO ANTE

1. Traditional Soviet view concerning moral injury. Punitive damages. Compensation for material injury

2. Proposals to recognise moral injury and to provide for compensation thereof

3. Retraction, injunctions and restraining orders

4. No "right of reply"

III. THE COURT MAY IMPOSE FINES FOR NONPERFORMANCE OF ITS DECISION ORDERING RESTORATION OF THE STATUS QUO ANTE

IV. CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR SECTION 7 TO APPLY

A. Circulation of Statements

B. The Statements must be Defamatory to the Honour and Dignity of the Plaintiff

1. What is defamatory

2. Facts and comments

3. "Fair comment" in Anglo-American and in Soviet law

4. Filimonov v. Chaikovskaia and "Izvestiia"

C. The Statements Circulated by Defendant must be Untrue

V. QUESTION OF FAULT. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. PROCEDURE

1. Neither malice nor fault required

2. No time limit for actions

3. Onus probandi

4. Pre-trial hearings and settlement out of court

5. Minors, mentally incompetents, and deceased. Suits in the absence of direct personal interest

6. Who is the defendant

7. Republication of slander and libel

8. Venire

9. Anonymous and pseudonymous libel in the press

10. Legal nature of actions under Section 7

11. Civil action and opinion of "mass organisations"

12. Methods of retraction

13. Enforcement of facere obligations

14. Court costs and counsel fees

VI. PROTECTION OF HONOUR AND DIGNITY IN CIVIL, CRIMINAL, AND COMRADES' COURTS: SOME DIFFERENCES

A. Defamation as a Crime and as a Tort

B. Defamation before People's Courts and before Comrades' Courts.

VII. THE SOVIET PRESS vs. SECTION 7. DEFAMATION AND "LETTERS OF COMPLAINT"

1. Campaign in the Soviet press against alleged abuses of Section 7

Trial by press of unsuccessful plaintiffs

2. Trial by press of successful plaintiffs

3. Party committee of Riazan' supports the press

4. Beliavskii's criticism of the press and his defence of Section 7

5. Means available to the courts to discourage mala fide actions under Section 7

6. Defamation and "citizens' letters of complaint"

7. Anonymous "letters of complaint" and their effectiveness

VIII. USE OF SECTION 7 AGAINST FOREIGN JOURNALISTS DURING THE POST-DÉTENTE ERA

1. Gosteleradio SSSR vs. Whitney and Piper

2. Comments upon the plaintiff's case

3. Comments upon the defendants' case

4. Comments upon Judge L. Almazov's rulings and decision

5. Inherent weaknesses of Section 7

6. Legal context vs. political context

Part Two: Privacy

I. THE RIGHT TO ONE'S OWN IMAGE

A. Creation and Publication of a Work of Pictorial Fine Arts

1. Consent necessary for publication, not for creation of the work

2. Does protection extend only to works created "by the artist's hand"?

3. Works not protected under Section 514

4. Method of publication not relevant

B. The meaning of "Consent"

1. De lege ferenda

2. De lege lata

3. Procedural implications

C. Exceptions to Protection

1. Publication in the interest of State or society

2. Publication in a higher artistic interest

3. Works of photography

4. No protection in the Kazakh civil code

II. COPYRIGHT AND THE RIGHT TO ONE'S OWN IMAGE

III. THE RIGHT TO PROTECTION OF ONE'S PRIVATE WRITINGS

A. Evolution of the Soviet Legislation

B. Legal Nature of the "Right to" Private Writings

1. It can be a copyright

Animus domini test rejected.

Other extrinsic criteria rejected

Intrinsic merits of the work determine its copyrightability

"Legal criteria" of intrinsic merits

Expert testimony

Determination by publishing houses

"Literary materials"

2. It is not a property right

No copyright is conferred under Section 491 and 540-1 themselves

No property right is conferred in the tangible objects in which the private writings are embodied

No property right is conferred in the intangible contents of private writings

English and American law

French law

German law

Pre-revolutionary Russian law

Soviet law (Kazakh and Uzbek)

3. It is a "personality" right

Comparative law and antecedents

Debates in late 19th-century Russia: Literary

jurisprudence

Russian Copyright Act of 20 March 1911

Debates in the Committee on Judicial Reforms

Amendments in the State Council

"Privacy" prevails over "public interest" in the State Duma

The debate continues

Soviet law

C. Peculiarities of the "Right to" Private Writings

1. Legal nature of the relationship between writer and addressee

2. Beyond "legitimate self-defence" of the addressee

3. Legal nature of the protection of "third persons"

4. Which "writings" are protected?

5. What is "publication"?

6. Sanctions and remedies

7. "Posthumous protection" revisited

8. Only natural persons possess the right

9. Foreigners

IV. IN SEARCH OF THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS

A. Problems of Methodology

1. A question of classification

2. The pitfalls of semantics

3. Once again: "Protection" vs. "regulation"

4. "Rights" or "interests"?

"Interests": The purpose or the contents of "subjective rights"?

From "legally protected interests" to constitutional rights

5. "Honour" and "dignity".

B. A Larger Context and its Limits

1. Defamation and privacy

2. USSR Constitution of 1977 and after

The "rights of the personality"

The right to a "private sphere"

INDICES

Names

Subjects

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Colophon.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9789004633100

9004633103

OCLC:

1528955569