Advantages of domestic copyright registration in addition to legal protection provided by Bern Convention. Whether the copyright registration and deposit systems are able to protect the authors right in the new era

Abstract

The digital environment dictates new mechanisms of the protection of copyright. Due to the newly emerged technologies, authors and owners are able to engage in dynamic relations and the global network, which, besides the advantages, creates also the risks of copyright infringements. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works establishes the principle of "automatic" protection of copyrightable work without any formality, however, a number of the Member countries establishes the voluntary copyright registration system. They emphasize that the registration facilitates the exercise of copyright and clearly establishes authorship and/or ownership of rights. Armenia is also a member of the Bern Convention. The current legislation on Copyright does not provide for a voluntary registration, however, the enforcement of the legal framework is poor, the facts and the cases of copyright infringements are many, and the law enforcement applications are very few. In this study through comparing various models of the international best practices and drawing parallels with the Armenian current situation, we come to the conclusion that the establishment of a voluntary copyright registration system can serve as an additional tool for the protection of author’s right not only from the legal point of view (a certificate of registration serves as a prima facie evidence) but also from the standpoint of creation of a global environment of protection. In the conclusion of the research, the benefits emanating from the presence of a voluntary registration system and the necessary measures for the establishment of such a system are presented.