Copyright in a general sense is the right of the author over his work. Copyright has implications in both non-financial as well as financial context. The first one ensures recognition of the author and the second – financial reward for his work.

What are the objects of copyright is defined in Art. 3 of Bulgarian Copyright and Related Rights Act (CRRA). Paragraph 1 contains the legal definition of the term “copyright object” – these are works of literature, art or science that are the end result of author’s creative activity and are expressed in any way and in any objectively perceived form whatsoever.

An exemplary (non-exhaustive) list of the types of copyright objects follows:

• audiovisual works, such as television programmes, films and online videos;
• audio recordings and musical compositions;
• written works, i.e. lectures, articles, books and musical compositions;
• visual works such as paintings, posters and advertisements;
• video games and computer software;
• theatrical works such as plays and musicals.

Defamation as well as personal insult is a crime against victim’s dignity, defined as follows:

Art. 146 – Art. 148 of the Criminal Code:

“Whoever makes public a disgraceful circumstance about another person or alleges that a crime have been committed by the latter..

It is worth pointing out the requirement that the false information /publicized disgraceful circumstance or alleged crime/ must have been told to someone other than the victim and also be untrue in order to qualify it as defamation.

Insult and defamation are crimes of private nature and as such are prosecuted upon formal request of the affected victim. They are deliberate attacks on the honor and dignity of the victim and directly affect his personality and reputation.

“Personal Data” implies any piece of information relating to an identified or identifiable alive individual. Fractional pieces of data which, when taken together, can lead to the identification of a specific individual also constitute personal data.

Personal data that has been anonymized in such a way that the individual is not identified or can no longer be identified is no longer considered personal data. For data to be truly anonymized, the anonymization must be completely irreversible.

Examples of personal data include:

• first name and surname;
• home address;
• email address, such as for instance: name.surname@company.com ;
• ID card number;
• location data (e.g. the location data function of a smartphone)*;
• Internet Protocol (IP) address;
• “cookie’s” ID;
• your phone’s advertising ID;
• data held by a hospital or doctor that could be a symbol that uniquely identifies an individual.

A trademark is a symbol that is used by an individual, business organization or other legal entity with commercial operations.

This sign can be a name, a word, a phrase, logo, symbol, image, or a combination of these elements.

The trademark may be indicated by the following symbols:

• ™ (for unregistered trademark)
• ℠ (for unregistered, service-related trademark)
• ® (for registered trademark)

Any use of the logo by unauthorized parties is a violation of intellectual property laws. Restricting the use of the trademark is intended to enable vendors and manufacturers build their own reputation and distinguish themselves from others, thereby promoting their business.

Използването на логото от неупълномощени лица е нарушение на законите за интелектуалната собственост. Ограничаването на употребата на търговската марка е с цел да се даде възможност на търговците и производителите да изградят своя собствена репутация и да се отличават от останалите, като по този начин насърчават бизнеса си.

Intellectual property can be divided into 4 categories:

• patent – issued for inventions to the maker of the “inventive step” (a novel and useful technological feature), applicable in all fields of technology for a certain period of time. It means that no one other than the inventor can manufacture a certain product;
• trademark – a symbol, name, phrase, sound that is associated with a given product. The creator of the product is the owner of the trademark;
• copyright – refers to literary and artistic works, novels, audio-visual works. These rights arise for the author automatically, immediately upon the creation of the work in question;
• trade secrets – undisclosed (publicly unknown) information, also known as “know how” or “industrial secret”. The essence in this case it protection of a certain information, valuable for one reason or another to a given enterprise, which exerts special efforts to keep it secret.

The protection of intellectual property includes a large number of international treaties/conventions prepared with the help of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the   World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition, the European Union has introduced additional laws aimed at achieving even more effective protection of intellectual property rights.

• Trademarks are protected by creating EU-wide trademark validity.
• Patents – of greatest importance for such are 2 conventions: European Patent Convention (Munich Convention)  – enabling patents to be obtained with a simple application to the European Patent Office; Convention for the European Patent for the common market (Luxembourg Convention) – aiming for a unitary effect of European patents everywhere in the European Community.
• Copyright – the more important international acts in this field are: Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886); Universal Copyright Convention (1952); Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961); Geneva Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Use of their Recordings (1971); Treaty on the International Registration of Audiovisual Works (1989); Convention Establishing a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO Convention) (1967).