Mr.Atanas Kostov - copyright attorney in Bulgaria. The book "Intellectual Property on the Internet".

The reason to write the book "Intellectual Property on the Internet" is the fact that intellectual property is the most powerful regulator, and a protective mechanism against the processes that are currently happening on the Internet. You will ask why this is so important? Due to the fact that the full potential of the creative industries is already online and the same goes for the business, which means that in the near future any social, commercial, scientific, artistic or social activity will be mediated by the Internet. Even now, there is no good or service that is not available online, and this business model has been adopted by the electronic media and the show business. 

All this leads to a justified interest of the users in this electronic phenomenon, which is related to the easy commodity turnover, quick access to specific works, goods or services, but also to the presumed will to "jump over the legal barriers" due to different motives. In addition to the old theme of internet piracy (which also has new dimensions in the development of legislation), there are already new unscrupulous practices aimed at "abducting" domains or registering such names under other company names or trademarks for resale or another type of commercial effect to the registrant, such as unfair competition and / or attracting additional user traffic. On the other hand, copyright and related licensing agreements have become as "electronic" as it calls for the need for new, credible and adequate legislative solutions to deter unscrupulous practices on the Internet. The strange thing is that the Bulgarian Law on Copyright and Related Rights as well as the Law on Marks and Geographical Indications "delay" to legally regulate the processes that concern intellectual property rights online, neither of which even mentions the word " Internet ", despite the increasingly dynamic e-business in Bulgaria. At the same time, special laws (which are not part of a copyright law or trademark law) specifically regulating legal relationships and infringements of intellectual property rights on the Internet have emerged in many foreign legislation. 

This book gives a vision of some of the major topics and issues in the described context by trying to comment and at the same time propose solutions to address the issues of copyright, trademarks, domains and other business identifiers that are used in network. I hope this statement assures the reader how important it is in today's time to know the intellectual property legal tools that serve to prevent online business models as well as those relating to copyrights based on the Internet. The relevance of the subject is related to purely pragmatic and commercial motives regarding the proper structuring and protection of online entrepreneurship. The book gives many examples of national and international case law on case studies that deal with the exact subject of intellectual property rights in the web, in order to make these legal processes more accessible. My aim in the commented topic is to make it as accessible as possible not only to lawyers, but to the business community as well as to the representatives of the creative industries, without having to propose ready solutions, but with the option of giving a reflection on how to deal with analogous case studies.

By the author: Mr.Atanas Kostov – attorney at law

The book "Intellectual Property on the Internet" you can order directly here.

Issued 2012

Fenya Publishing House

Intellectual Property Categories.

Pages 168

Dimensions 14.60 / 21.60 / 0.90 cm

Weight 0.202 kg

EAN 9789549499919

ISBN 9789549499919

Author: Mr.Atanas Kostov

"Internet Intellectual Property Law" in Bulgaria? Internet law. Internet attorney in Bulgaria.

In the 21st century, literally every social, business, political, and cultural aspect of life is mediated by online space. This means that behind every everyday activity stands an online platform - a website, a blog, an Internet mobile application, and so on. The Bulgarian social reality shows that offenses / crimes aimed at copying, using, reproducing, distributing, hacking, breaking the integrity and functioning of online works are a practice that is completely neglected, legally unsettled, and therefore devoid of any clearly structured legislative sanction, therefore prevention. It is correct to note that there are some legal norms in the Bulgarian legislation which concern the commented subject, but they are in different material laws and provide for separate abstract hypotheses that do not communicate with each other and thus remain some "mutilated" legal constructions without real practical significance.

All of this naturally leads to the total unproductiveness and almost zero efficiency in the work of specialized prevention bodies in the face of, for example, in the computer crime sector of so called “GDBOP”, due in particular to the lack of an adequate legal framework from a substantive point of view and respectively the lack of powers from a procedural point of view. This article aims to precisely identify these problems and to define what has been achieved so far internationally to justify the real need for such a legislative initiative in Bulgaria, which is justified not only in the present but also especially in the future, given the obvious all-round digitization of public life. Here I would like to point out the fact that the legal focus on online space and its problems has been placed in Western Europe and the US in the mid-1990s, i.e. the Bulgarian legislation is late for nearly 20 years to place emphasis on lawmaking in this sphere. I would like to mention that when in 2009 at a intellectual property conference, I started to speak on the subject of this article, I was greeted with silence and misunderstanding by a strictly professional audience that made me feel like a "stranger in my own." Unfortunately, there is no feedback between the online industry and lawyers, intellectual property specialists, which leads to a lack of communication and an option for a meeting of opinions, concepts and views to identify the specific problems to be solved. That is why, up to this day, I continue to insist that an "Intellectual Property Law on the Internet" must exist in the Bulgarian legislation, taking into account the balanced interests of users and rights holders, and in this context, the different options to the positive legal behavior of the different legal entities and a corresponding sanction in respect of offenses and crimes directed against copyright works and various technical and software platforms, object of intellectual property based on the Internet.

Copyright protection on Internet sites. Copyright attorney in Bulgaria.

A hot topic which concerns a lot of online businesses is copying (retrieving or stealing) website content - its texts, graphics, designs, photos and commercial concepts. The trend on a global and national level indicates that within a few years, any good, including author's works - books, musical works, architectural projects, computer programs, etc. will be offered predominantly online. This fact calls for increased attention paid to the adequate copyright protection of the content of the Internet sites as well as to the formulation of the clearer general terms and conditions for their use in order to avoid unscrupulous practices carried out by third parties.

This statement will address the main guidelines that should be marked as a means of protection and prevention against the illegal "copying or theft" that is done with respect to the content or functionality of the Internet sites.

Copyrights on Facebook. Copyright attorney in Bulgaria.

The social network Facebook became a social phenomenon that accumulates much of the contemporary social, business, and cultural life of the world. Background information indicates that the site was created by Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, described as a genius programmer while still a teenager, and creator of projects like "Zucknet" (a primitive version of AOL instant messenger), a media player, called "Synapse Media player" (in which Microsoft showed interest), the program "Course Match", which helps students to choose courses, and the so-called "first Facebook"- the site Facemash. This internet site allowed users to compare pictures of classmates and select the one that is "coolest.” Facemash worked just one weekend because of huge site traffic overloads caused an interruption of internet service at Harvard (where Zuckerberg was a student at the time). Post factum Zuckerberg was criticized for this by the student newspaper, as well as classmates, because he used their photos without proper authorization. Given these negatives, Mark Zuckerberg started programming Facebook which was launched on the Internet from his room at Harvard on Feb. 4, 2004. At present, this internet site is owned by Facebook Inc., based in Silicon Valley, California, USA. On 21 July 2010, the youngest billionaire in the USA - Mark Zuckerberg (6.9 billion dollars personal assets) officially reported that the site has reached 500 million users worldwide. An interesting fact is that in 2010, Steven Levy - author of the book "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution", said that Zuckerberg described himself as a "hacker.” Therefore, at present, Facebook Inc., holds contests called "hackathons" every two months. The goal is for participants to program, present, and complete a software project in a single night. Facebook provides music, food, and beer, and the event is usually attended by participants of the Facebook site, including Zuckerberg. Some people say that Zuckerberg used these hackatons to recruit employees for his company in the beginning, and even today.

Internet law in Bulgaria. Internet attorney. Software protection. 

"IUSAUTHOR" is one of the few legal offices in Bulgaria, which since its inception have focus on the legal processes developing in the online environment or so called "Internet Law". "IUSAUTHOR" working hard on building effective models for prevention of copyright on the Internet, consult many creative industries, electronic media, NGOs, online libraries, private individuals and businesses, the proper protection of their copyrights and construction of adequate business strategies to optimize in detail their intellectual property on the Internet. Chairman of "IUSAUTHOR" is imposed and one of the experts in the field of copyright in Bulgaria in the person of Mr. Atanas Kostov, who has extensive experience as an attorney on the internet rights, who synthesized his experience as an lawyer in this field in his book "Intellectual Property on the Internet ". 

In the field of Internet law "IUSAUTHOR" work closely specialized on the registration of trademarks as domain names, respectively arbitration of disputes between trademark and domain with the extension ".bg" in the national arbitration to Register.BG and equivalent international arbitration for other extensions(".com", ".net", ".co.uk" etc.), based at the WIPO (International Organization for Intellectual Property)Geneva, Switzerland. Legal defense to those two types of arbitrations any serious is a specific legal action concerning the knowledge of intellectual property in an atypical area, which is built on those adopted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) "Uniform rules for resolving disputes concerning domain "(UDRP). Registration of domain names as trademarks is a key point in the defense business models, developing online as it requires not only legal view of national and international practice in this area, but presupposes and reporting of relevant marketing and consumer attitudes, which lead to proper counseling of a client on the construction of a brand, individualizing a business or other enterprise in the Internet environment. Through its work with numerous representatives of online industries, the team of "IUSAUTHOR" has established good practices in adequate consultation of this type of customers.

In light of the above should be noted that "IUSAUTHOR" as a firm engaged in internet law, working in close coordination with national and international judicial and administrative institutions whose focus is on resolving problems relating to crime and unfair practices, developing It is the Internet. This action concerns the firm resolve legal issues related to cybercrime, counterfeiting, phishing, hacker attacks, internet piracy, theft of personal data and content from websites, created mirrored platforms in order to unfairly attract users, professional general conditions, imitation, violation of human rights in the Internet, e-commerce etc.

"IUSAUTHOR" is the principal legal adviser to the territory of Bulgaria on cases concerning so-called "free software" running on "Linux" and "GPL licenses to "Free Software Fondation", Europe.

The hottest blockchain startups in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria and local dev community haven’t been too vocal about this, but it seems that the country has an important stake in the global blockchain ecosystem. With a growing community around the technology (not the fading crypto enthusiasm), the global acceleration program of platform Aeternity for blockchain startups and the investment company Belayer based in Sofia, a Balkan Blockchain Association seem to be well positioned on the map.

Currently, there are around 30 companies in Bulgaria, both service and product-oriented ones, which leverage blockchain technology in an attempt to develop viable products that serve real business needs. “The majority of blockchain companies right now are part of the transition from a centralized to a decentralized economy. A lot of them are still using decentralized components to solve problems but still have a centralized point of strategic decision-making. The most interesting projects are the ones that change the whole paradigm and really manage to confirm the viability and sustainability of decentralized models of governance and operation. This will not happen overnight.”, Vladislav Dramaliev from aetertnity, told us.  Currently, there are around 30 companies in Bulgaria, both service and product, which leverage the blockchain tech in one way or another, in attempt to develop viable products that serve real business needs.

Here’s the list of the scalable product projects that might have found a way to utilize the technology to solve problems, instead of finding the problem for the blockchain solution. We’ve mostly looked at products beyond the crypto bubble. You can find below what is each of them doing.