Objects of Intellectual Rights in Social Networks: Current Regulation and Legal Perspectives

The paper considers the problem of the legal status of a social network as an object of intellectual rights. The relevance of the research is due to the need to find a balance between the interests of social network owners and users, as well as the lack of a well-established practical basis regarding the legal framework of a social network and its elements. The lack of a unified position results in the process of proving infringements of intellectual rights of authors and right holders publishing content in social media. The author analyzed approaches to the application of existing civil law regimes (database, complex object, composite work, etc.) to social networks, as well as the issues of liability of information intermediary and approaches to protect the rights to content. Based on comparative legal analysis and judicial practice, the author, taking into account the peculiarities of the social network and the digital nature of objects, proposes mechanisms for legal regulation of the social network and its elements (user account and content).