Out-of-court settlement of disputes in accordance with European copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market
Authors: Trotska Valentyna 
Published: October 2021

Keywords: copyright, providers, rightsholders, users, content, downloads, interactiveaccess, out-of-court settlement of disputes

The article is devotedto the study of the norms of Directive 2019/790 of the European Parliament and ofthe Council on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market, and Guidanceon Article 17 of Directive 2019/790 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market.The purpose of this article is to conduct a legal analysis of the EU Directive andGuidance, and determine the features of protection of copyright and related rightsthrough out-of-court settlement of disputes, in the new realities of digital market development,and the feasibility of taking into account the relevant norms in the legislationof Ukraine.Article 17 of this EU Directive and the provisions of the reference, are analysed indetails.Rights and obligations of all participants in legal relations arising in the digitalenvironment are considered: right holders, users, online content-sharing serviceproviders (hereinafter — providers).The definition of the new term «online content-sharing service providers», proposedin the EU Directive, has been explored. It is stated that providers have theright to provide access to legal content, uploaded by users. At the same time, they areobliged to act on the basis of the permission received from the right holders, do not affecton users who are using the online content-sharing services in order to legal up-load and access to information, to prevent the availability of unauthorized content,uploaded by users.In the article explores the norms about out-of-court mechanisms of compensationfor damage and the settlement of disputes. Its advantages are defined. The disadvantagesthat may arise in the practical application of the norms are indicated.In particular, in the Article 17 of the EU Directive and the Guidance do not providea clear answer to certain questions, such as: the status of the person who willhave the authority to resolve the relevant disputes; what will be the decisions madeby such a person; the procedure, amount and terms of compensation for damages;cross-border application of decisions.A comparison is made between the norms of the legislation of Ukraine on copyrightand related rights and the relevant norms of European legislation. It is notedthat in the Law of Ukraine “On Copyright and Related Rights” there is a procedurefor termination of infringements of copyright and related rights on the Internet byproviders. Out-of-court settlement of disputes is not provided for, but it is not prohibited.The provider restores access to the object if the right holder has not provided himwith confirmation of the opening of legal proceedings to protect his rights to the objectof copyright and (or) related rights in respect of which the application for terminationof the violation was filed.Unlike the provisions of the Law, according to Art. 17 (9) of the EU Directive andthe Guidance, the user can appeal the decision of the provider to block, delete content.Access to content can be restored on the basis of out-of-court settlement of the dispute,i.e. without going to court.It is concluded that these European standards are noteworthy and need further studyin the context of the application of out-of-court mechanisms of the settlement of disputesthat arise between rightsholders, users and providers in the digital environment.