Background Use of a Work or Its Part: Perspectives of Legal Regulation in Russia

The paper examines the case of free use of a work based on its background use in another work, and also summarizes the legislative and judicial practice of a number of foreign countries on this issue. Based on the results of the analysis of Russian and foreign judicial practice related to the recognition of the use of a work or part of it as background in the creation of another work, it is proposed to consider the issue of introducing into Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation as a case of free use of a work its background use in another work with the definition of the criteria of such, including the use of the work as a prop – an interior item and furnishings, the absence of a plotforming role and being in the center of attention of the audience, as well as the singularity or plurality of facts of reproduction and their influence on the work in question.