THE CONCEPT OF BUSINESS REPUTATION ON THE INTERNET: PROBLEMS OF DEFINITION IN THE LEGISLATION OF UKRAINE

This article is devoted to the study of the concept of business reputation on the Internet. The scientific article examines the legal nature of the concept of �business reputation�, defines regulations that contain the definition of �business reputation�, analyzes the case law to define the definition of �business reputation�. The article defines the general principles of protection of business reputation in the domestic legislation, establishes ways to protect business reputation on the Internet in accordance with national legislation and case law. The importance of business reputation for a legal entity as a criterion of successful professional, economic or other activity is analyzed, because the business reputation of a legal entity is the prestige of its brand (commercial) name, trademarks and other intangible assets among consumers of its goods and services. According to the analysis of the legislation and explanations of case law, the article generalizes that the definition of the content of goodwill depends on the nature of its subject. It is substantiated that the protection of business reputation is a particularly important institution of civil law, because it is a mechanism for restoring the violated non-property rights of the individual. The norms of civil law of Ukraine concerning the statute of limitations, which is used in cases of protection of the business reputation of a person and the procedure for calculating the statute of limitations, are studied. It is noted that in the Ukrainian legislation there is no single unified definition of business reputation of both individuals and legal entities. Attention is drawn to the fact that the civil legislation of Ukraine does not contain regulations on the protection of business reputation on the Internet, which is a significant shortcoming of the legal regulation of the state. Emphasis is placed on the nature of the studied concept, which is a moral and ethical category, a kind of evaluative institution of civil and commercial law. The conclusion on expediency of fixing of definition of business reputation in the Civil code of Ukraine for the purpose of streamlining of system of legal regulation, maintenance of standardization of legal categories is formulated. Business reputation is a non-property right of a person guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine, which provides for a public assessment of the business qualities of an individual, achievements in sociopolitical, public life, etc. For a legal entity, business reputation is a criterion of successful professional, economic or other activity. Protection of business reputation is a particularly important institution of civil law, because it is a mechanism for restoring the violated non-property rights of the individual. Nowadays, the issue of protection of business reputation is relevant due to violations on the Internet. Thus, the rapid development of information and telecommunications technologies has contributed not only to the emergence of new unlimited opportunities in the world wide web, but also to numerous violations of nonproperty rights of individuals, including business reputation.