PECULIARITIES OF A PUBLIC LICENSE AS A FORM OF DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY RIGHTS TO OBJECTS OF RELATED RIGHTS UNDER THE LEGISLATION OF UKRAINE
Authors: Pecherova N. H. 
Published: October 2024

This scientific article is devoted to consideration of the features of a public license as a form of disposal of property rights to objects of related rights under the legislation of Ukraine. The examination is carried out by comparing the license and the license agreement, the license and the public license, the public license and the license agreement, as well as considering the features of the public license, taking into account the peculiarities of the legal nature of the objects of related rights, in particular, such an object as the program of the broadcasting organization. Why did it become necessary to investigate the public license as a form of disposal of property rights to objects of related rights precisely by comparing it with a license, a license agreement? This necessity is caused by the need for a correct understanding of the legal nature of this form of order, including how this form of order should be considered - as a unilateral deed or as a bilateral/multilateral deed? So, despite the fairly widespread position in the scientific literature that a public license, just like a license, is a unilateral transaction, we believe that a public license is a form of a license agreement, not a type of license and not a unilateral transaction, because from the analysis of the current legislation of our state (to which we refer in the content of the article), we can see the obligations arising from the licensee, including from the use of the granted object of intellectual property rights, including related rights, in a specified manner, within specified terms, with payment of a fee (if it is stipulated by the terms of the contract) for the use of the specified object. That is, the expression of will, which is characteristic in the case of a unilateral transaction for only one party, as a general rule, in the case of both a public license and a license, meets with the expression of will and obligations of the other party, the licensee. Why, in our opinion, did such an approach arise in the current legislation regarding the fact that a license can be considered as a unilateral transaction? We believe that this approach arose due to the complex nature of legal relations in the field of intellectual property law. Indeed, relations in the field of intellectual property law also contain a public-law element, but does this public-law element extend to relations that arise when concluding a public license as a form of disposal of property rights to objects of related rights? Unlikely, since by its legal nature these relations are private law and are built on the dispositive principles of civil law. Therefore, we believe that the license is an integral part of the license agreement. The license agreement essentially covers both the license and the public license. A public license is a form of license agreement. Why did such a form of license contract as a public license arise? This form arose in connection with the rapid development of information technologies and fully meets the needs of the times and the needs of owners of property rights to increase the turnover of their property rights. This form of license agreement is especially relevant for objects of related rights (performances, phonograms, videograms, broadcasting organization programs). A broadcast organization program is a special object of related rights for which a public license can be concluded. This feature is essentially due to the fact that this object, by its legal nature, depends on the transferred property rights to other objects of copyright and related rights that are part of it, and especially if the property rights to such objects were are also transferred for use, including under a license agreement.
Among the tasks of this work, the following should be highlighted: to investigate the legal nature of a public license as a form of disposal of property rights to objects of related rights by comparison with a license, a license agreement, as well as analysis and research of the peculiarities of the legal nature of objects of related rights, in particular, the program of the organization broadcasting in connection with the peculiarities that may arise when concluding a public license for such objects.
Such outstanding scientists as A. S. Shtefan, I. V. Kryvosheina, O. M. Starovit and others dealt with questions related to the topic presented in the article.