On March 10th, 2017 as part of “Intellectual Property Right” course under the supervision of the Professor of Civil Law and Lawsuit Faculty Nataliia Shust group ПР-202 students of Educational and Research Institute of Law had a court hearing on the basis of the “Twin Books Corporation vs Walt Disney Company” case on violation of copyright on “Bambi” literary work.
During the course of the interactive class, the students not only managed to adopt roles of judge, lawyer, prosecutor or witness, but also got a chance to clearly draw a parallel between legislation of Ukraine and the United States of America, find accurate facts of this case investigation, which would prove legal reasoning of each party. The court hearing had two stages. During case hearing in court of general jurisdiction the students representing “Walt Disney Company” won claiming it was established that property right on “Bambi” literary work was not confirmed in 1951 as stated by the law of the USA, thus the work became available for public. During case hearing under cassational procedure, the students representing “Twin Books Corporation” were able to prove that “Bambi” was first published in 1923 out of accordance with provisions of the 1909 Act of the USA. Court hearing is an opportunity to learn law more profoundly, to transform theoretical knowledge into practical skills through games, and mainly to learn how to make clear defense and find arguments supporting it. “It was only the beginning!” say students. “We will continue learning the law of the world along with Ukrainian legislation and analyze them, as learning the law, knowledge and its use are the first step to understanding the law system of the country and your own rights realization”.