Intellectual property

Copyright and Related Rights:

Due to having been one of the major law offices involved into the current Copyright and Related Rights Act Drafting, Popov, Arnaudov and Partners has acquired an extensive and overall experience in various aspects of copyright and its related rights:

• Author’s product protection – software, mobile applications, audio-visual works, e-books, music and all other types of intellectual products. The Law Office designs the legal framework that provides the Client with the peace of mind to earn via the products of its intellectual work;
• Representation and negotiations with suppliers and users of protected content – our team holds an extensive experience in consulting deals for the purchase and sale of films, music and software content, including Metro Goldwin Mayer, NBCUniversal, Miramax, Paramount, Fox, independent studios as well as such one with large content users – broadcasters, telecoms, etc.;
• Representation before the Ministry of Culture, Collective Rights Management Organizations in terms of all types of protected content usage settlement;
• Contracts for copyright and related rights settlement between authors and author’s products developers, production contracts;
• Law-making – over the last 10 years, our team experts have been involved in expert groups and initiatives for modifying and updating the legal framework into the copyright field;
• Disputes over copyright and related rights – In its practice, our team has led a number of copyright disputes to a successful ending, including iconic for Bulgaria software cases, illegal use of intellectual products and disputes related to Collective Rights Management Organizations and others.

In terms of industrial property field, Popov, Arnaudov and Partners Law Office provides:

• Overall legal service regarding industrial property cases: national, European and international trademarks registration, patents and designs, representation in opposition proceedings and deletion proceedings;
• Procedural representation before competent authorities: Patent Office, Administrative Courts and Administrative Supreme Court in proceedings regarding industrial property rights protection;
• Consultancy services: legal stand-points preparation, analyzes and recommendations, dispute settlements regarding industrial property field;
• License agreements drawing up, contracts regarding rights over industrial property objects transferring, etc.;
• Trademark and patent surveys and other industrial property research.

• At the very beginning of the current century, the Law office has been representing one of the leading Bulgarian cable operators and the Association of Bulgarian Cable Operators (ABCO) in a series of cases regarding Collective Rights Management Organisations, including controversial issues of the existence of a dominant position, the succession of right-holders, the rights to RTL Formula 1 broadcast in parallel with its broadcast under the licensed program for the territory, etc. In the course of these cases, our Law Office has filed a claim and brought the lawsuit to a successful ending before the CPC, imposing sanctions for abuse regarding dominant positions of EBU, VPRT, AGICOA, Musicator, Filmmattor and Theatator at the amount of BGN 130 000;
• Our Legal Office represents the interests of the Association of Bulgarian Cable Operators before the working groups of the Ministry of Culture in the course of the amendments to Copyright and Related Rights Act;
• Popov, Arnaudov and Partners Law Office represents their clients in consultations and working groups on the limitation of the illegal content dissemination on the Internet initiated by the National service for Combating Organized Crime;
• Our Law Office participates in the preparation and launching of one of the first projects for PPV and VOD services in Bulgaria as well as in the preparation of contracts with the Big Studios and the distributors in the country;
• Popov, Arnaudov and Partners Law Office supports initiatives for eliminating the free and uncoded broadcast of programs with erotic content;
• Our Law Office has represented ABCO in drafting and discussing the Content Assessment Criteria which happens to be unfavorable or threatening when it comes to impairing the physical, mental, moral and/or social development of children;
• Our team represents their clients in proceedings before Electronic Media Council (EMC) in terms of TV program registrations and before EMC and Administrative Supreme Court – in connection with television programs activity;
• Popov, Arnaudov and Partners Law Office represents a Bulgarian film television program during the overall negotiation process for providing content from film studios, creating a program product and providing a contractual framework for its dissemination across the country;
• Over the years, the Law Office has been working on specific cases of ABCO, ABRO, PROFON, BMS and commercial companies in copyright and related rights field – negotiations, contracts drafting, legal representation, lawmaking.