Legal Nature of the Right to Protect a Phonogram from Distortion

In this study, the author attempts a legal analysis of the right to protect a phonogram from distortion. The relevance of the research is dictated by the fact that the scientific literature contains a small number of works devoted to this right, in contrast to the right to inviolability of the work and performance. The paper presents the results of the author’s study of the theoretical aspect of the issue, in particular, outlines doctrinal approaches to determining the right to protect a phonogram from distortion in the context of its differentiation from the right to process a phonogram. Using the comparative legal method, it was revealed that the analyzed law is not fixed in foreign countries. The conclusion is made about the need for an economic justification of the existence of the right to protect phonograms from distortion in Russian jurisprudence. As an interim conclusion, the author draws attention to the insufficient theoretical development of the concept of the right to protect a phonogram from distortion, and the lack of clarity on the definition of this right in law and law enforcement practice. A distinction is proposed between the right to protect a phonogram from distortion and the right to process a phonogram based on the nature and type of operations performed with sound recordings.