Principles of Intellectual property law as a sub-branch of Russian civil law

The present article examines the system of Intellectual property law principles as a sub-branch of civil law. The system is characterized by the unity and interconnectedness of the elements. The author examines general legal, inter-branch, branch and sub-branch principles of law consistently, proceeding from the approach which is enshrined in legislation, supported in legal literature and recognized by the legal profession. The realization of systemic levels of principles in Intellectual property law is shown on the specific examples of legal norms and court practice. For example, the rules of the institute of Intellectual property law directly apply such fundamental principles as the principles of humanity and morality, and the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation paid attention to this fact. It is noted that certain branch principles can be considered as an additional criterion for dividing law into branches. The applicability of branch principles to a particular area of public relations is an additional factor justifying the branch affiliation of the norms regulating these relations. Since Civil law in general and Intellectual property law in particular belong to the private legal bloc of the branches of law, the application of principles is of particular importance for them and has considerable potential in legal regulation. In addition to the principles of Article 1of the Civil Code the Russian Federation that are named the main beginnings of civil legislation, the article examines good faith, reasonableness and fairness. These categories are defined as principles of law that should be adhered to when resolving some issues in the field under consideration. The difficulty of singling out the principles of Intellectual property law stems from the large number of international acts, the diversity of objects of intellectual property relations and their diverse legal mode. Among the sub-branch principles the following are named and considered from the point of view of the scope and the possibility of application: (a) the principle of a closed list of intellectual property objects, which are granted legal protection, b) the principle of dualism of intellectual rights, c) the principle of belonging of personal non-property rights exclusively to a citizen whose creative work created a certain result (the author of the result of intellectual activity), d) territorial action of exclusive intellectual rights, e) the principle of exhaustion of exclusive rights, f) the principle of limiting exclusive rights.

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