CLASSIFICATION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OBJECTS IN THE IT SPHERE: ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL ASPECT

Abstract

The article systematizes intellectual property subject matter in the information technology sector and determines the significance of its legal heterogeneity for administrative legal protection. The study aims to classify IT-related subject matter according to the branches of intellectual property law under which protection is afforded and to establish how the applicable legal regime affects the substance and limits of public-authority intervention. Five groups are distinguished: copyright works; patentable and equivalent subject matter; means of individualization; trade secrets and know-how; and ancillary subject matter of legal protection. The article establishes that copyright protection for computer programs covers their form of expression but does not extend to ideas, principles, methods, functionality, programming languages or data file formats. It explains the relationship between the copyright regime governing original databases and the sui generis right in non-original databases. The significance of administrative procedures for distinguishing a computer algorithm as an abstract idea from a computer-implemented technical solution is substantiated. Domain names are found to occupy a special position: although they do not constitute independent intellectual property subject matter, they may be protected through trademark law and mechanisms designed to prevent cybersquatting. The trade secret regime is characterized as an autonomous means of protecting algorithms, architectural solutions, software code, machine-learning model parameters and datasets. The possibilities and limitations of non-disclosure and non-compete agreements under the Diia City legal regime are examined. It is proposed that technological protection measures and rights-management information be regarded as ancillary subject matter of legal protection, whose recognition gives rise to a “doubling” of the protected object. The findings provide a theoretical basis for differentiating the powers of public administration authorities according to the legal nature of each specific IT-related object.