Debates on the criteria of copyrightability in the Russian legal literature

In codifying intellectual property rights, Russian legislators have left what standards of originality and creativity can be considered criteria of copyrightability a moot point. Nevertheless, it is crucial for answering questions about where the lower boundary of copyrightability lies and, consequently, what intellectual products that have an insignificant creative component, but are of high economic importance – such as databases, computer software, advertisement slogans or design work – should be copyrightable. This article addresses the problem of identifying criteria for copyrightability and non-copyrightability in the Russian legal literature by modeling various types of demarcation criteria and analyzing their strong and weak points. Analyzing debates in the legal literature warrant the conclusion that there is a trend to set looser standards for originality and creativity and grant copyright protection to works of low authorship