THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SYSTEM OF TAJIKISTAN

Scientific discoveries and achievements, the development of the fundamental foundations of science and contributions to the theory of science are the basis of the science of any state. This product of the scientific activity of individual scientists, who are the authors of monographs, books, pamphlets and articles and other types of published works, as a whole, is included in the total intellectual wealth of the country and is therefore closely related to national security. The country’s scientific potential and intellectual property in science need legal protection. And now, in the age of rapid development of science and technology, the issues of protecting intellectual property are becoming more and more relevant.

As for copyright itself in Tajikistan, for the first time a section on copyright was introduced into the Civil Code of Soviet Tajikistan, adopted in 1965. In this section, the period of copyright protection after the death of the author was set at 15 years. The law also established the penalties for offenders. Thus, article 150 of the Criminal Code of the Tajik SSR read: “Release under one’s own name of someone else’s scientific, literary, musical or artistic work or other appropriation of authorship for such a work, or illegal reproduction or distribution of such works, as well as coercion to co-authorship, is punishable by imprisonment for a term up to one year or a fine of up to five hundred rubles” (2, art. 150).

With the acquisition of independence in the Republic of Tajikistan, national legislation began to form. The legislation in the field of copyright of the Republic of Tajikistan consists of several articles of the main part of the Civil Code of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Copyright and Related Rights.

Moreover, the Republic of Tajikistan has acceded to all international treaties related to the protection of intellectual property (the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (March 9, 2000); the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (December 25, 1991);WIPO Copyright Treaty (April 5, 2009); the WIPO Treaty on Performances and Phonograms (August 24, 2011); the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Copyright and Related Rights Protection (May 7, 1997), etc.).

According to the Legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan, in accordance with Article 1126 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, scientific works also belong to intellectual property. In 1998, Tajikistan adopted the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Copyright and Related Rights” (Version No. 1172 dated December 31, 2014), which regulates relations that arise in connection with the creation and use of works of science and other creative products.

Scientific achievements, monographs and articles of scientists can be used in other countries. However, the provisions of copyright should always be taken into account. In November 2009, the Governments of the CIS member states signed an Agreement on cooperation in organizing interstate information exchange and the formation of national databases of copyright and related rights, which is aimed at creating favorable conditions for the development of scientific cooperation. This should have been aimed at the prevention and suppression of offenses in the field of intellectual property.

The Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Copyright and Related Rights” provides for cases when it is allowed to use an author’s work without the consent of the author or other copyright holder and without payment of royalties. Most often this is a citation for scientific purposes. The main condition in such cases is the obligatory indication of the name of the author. During the years of independence, conferences, seminars and round tables were held on the state of copyright in Tajikistan. One of the notable events in this direction was the national seminar (November 11-12, 2014, Dushanbe) on the topic “Copyright and collective management of rights”, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO / WIPO) and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic Tajikistan.

MUQUMOVA M.U.,

master’s degree student in the Academy