The Copyright law of the Russian Federation became effective on August 3, 1993. The Copyright law of 1993 was based upon WIPO model laws and followed the continental European tradition by separating economic and moral rights and including neighbouring rights. Russia had committed in a trade agreement with the U.S. to ensure that new legislation would be fully TRIPS compliant. The new Copyright law of 1993 was based upon WIPO model laws and followed the continental European tradition. Russian Copyright Law clearly separated economic and moral rights, and it included detailed provisions for neighbouring rights. Civil Code of the Russian Federation incorporates Copyright Law. It entered in force on January 1, 2008. The first post-Soviet copyright law of the Russian Federation became effective on August 3, 1993, completely replaced the older Soviet legislation that had been in effect until then.
In 2006, rewritten Intellectual Property Rights laws were included in part IV of a new Civil Code of the Russian Federation. These new laws were scheduled replaced all previous intellectual property legislation. The Copyright law of 1993 had specified a general duration of copyrights of 50 years beyond an author's death, or 50 years since the publication of an anonymous work. The implementation act for the law made the new law apply retroactively. The copyright term was extended in 2004 to 70 years for all works still copyrighted.
"Disclosure" is a concept newly introduced in the copyright law of 1993 to put an end to the ambiguities surrounding the term "publication" in the old Soviet copyright law. In Soviet copyright, publication included ephemerally making available a work, such as through a performance, a speech, or a broadcast. However, for foreign works protected under Soviet law indirectly through international agreements, the definition of "publication" laid down by these agreements was used.
If an employee creates a copyrightable work in the course of his duties vis-à-vis his employer, it is the employee who initially holds the copyright. The law stipulates, however, an automatic transfer of the economic rights to the employer, unless proven otherwise. Employers are required to pay the author royalties for each and every use of the work, but the parties are free to determine this fee and may set it arbitrarily low.
Excluded from copyright are official documents such as laws, judicial decisions, and similar administrative texts, as well as the official translations of such documents. Also deemed uncopyrightable are state symbols and marks (flags, coats of arms, medals, monetary symbols, etc.). - Copyright law of 1993.