Legal regulation of copyright in the ukrainian lands of the Russian Empire

The article explores the genesis of the legislative consolidation of copyright law in the Ukrainian lands that were a part of the Russian Empire. The thesis is substantiated that the legal regulation of copyright law in these territories was formed under the influence of both European legal traditions and imperial legislative norms. It was revealed that the formation of the idea of authorship in Russia occurred much later than in European countries. The reasons were the long-term attachment of copyright law to censorship legislation and the late commercialization of publishing. It was revealed that the right to literary property was first established in Russian legislation. The literary property was considered as acquired property. Later on, the right of musical and artistic property received legal protection. The thesis has proved that the proprietary concept of copyright law in Russia has been dominant for a long time. At the end of the 19th century, the question of the legal nature of copyright law became relevant, which ultimately formed the idea of separating property and non-property interests of the author in Russian law. Therefore, the evolution of copyright law in the Russian Empire is characterized by a transition from the protection of the interest of the distributor of the work to the protection of the interest of the author. 
It was revealed that in the 19th century Russia was in certain isolation and did not participate in the most important international agreements on the protection of intellectual property, except for two bilateral conventions with France and Belgium on the protection of copyright law. It was established that the copyright law in 1911 brought the legal regulation of copyright law in the Russian Empire to the European level and introduced many progressive novellas that positively impacted the further development of the institution of copyright law. 
All-Russian legislation of copyright law was also extended to Ukrainian-controlled lands. However, it is indicated that Russia introduced rather strict censorship rules for Ukrainian-language publications to their complete ban, therefore there is no need to talk about the protection of copyrights law of Ukrainian authors.