Start it Up: Legal Aspects of Launching IT Projects
Legal issues of launching IT projects were addressed at the Hi-Tech Park on May 6 – during a meeting within the cycle of practice-oriented events aimed at supporting the HTP start-up movement. The meeting was organized by the HTP administration together with the Minsk Entrepreneurs Club Delovar.
Yana Chirko, an associate at St. Petersburg office of the international law firm Dentons, spoke to the audience. Till 2013 Yana worked as a senior lawyer on intellectual property for a Belarusian law firm, so she was able to highlight peculiarities and recent changes of Belarusian and Russian legislation in the IT field. This is particularly important in the context of a common information space and close interaction between market participants of the two countries.
Intellectual property is a major asset in IT companies, therefore special attention was paid to the regulatory framework in this area: what to consider when planning projects, building working relationships, providing services on the Internet, choosing a domain name, protecting rights to the software (both purchased and developed). A lively discussion was centered on specific examples of judicial resolution of disputes relating to the protection of trademarks and domain names and copyright infringement. Yana answered numerous questions regarding not only intellectual property, but also competition, advertising, consumer protection and labor relations in the IT business.
Yana Chirko: "Implementation of a modern high-tech project in the IT area is inextricably linked to creation and use of intellectual assets. Proper execution and securing of intellectual property rights when launching a project help to avoid further disputes and disagreements between the project participants. Such disputes may adversely affect both the company`s reputation and the reputation of the proposed product or service within the project. So I wanted the participants of the today`s meeting to realize the importance of building a sensible strategy for managing rights to the results of intellectual activity when launching an IT project".
Vitaly Denisenkov, Director of Borovoy Studio: "Our company is about 10 years old already. Initially, we have developed customer software but now we are considering options for expansion and want to develop product lines. Yana`s presentation was therefore useful for me – detailed and systematized information, everyone learned something important for themselves and their business".
For reference:
The Hi-Tech Park Administration has planned a series of practice-oriented events for IT startuppers. The meetings are aimed at stimulating the development of innovative entrepreneurship in the IT area, providing practical assistance in the implementation of start-up projects, fruitful cooperation with representatives of the Belarusian startup community within the HTP business incubator.
The topic of each meeting is carefully chosen according to the system needs analysis and identification of constraints on the development and implementation of start-up projects. The HTP encourages anyone who is interested in the development of the start-up movement to actively participate in creation and discussion of different topics. Now you can use a special email address startup@park.by for this purpose.
