Evidence and proof in cases on protection of business reputation on the internet: domestic and foreign experience

This article is devoted to evidence and proof in cases of protection of business reputation on the Internet. The legal nature of the concept of “business reputation” is studied. The domestic Ukrainian and foreign experience in considering cases of protection of business reputation on the Internet is studied. 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 evidence necessary to confirm the task of damaging a person’s business reputation is characterized, attention is focused on the concept of elec-tronic evidence in civil proceedings in cases of violation of a person’s business reputation. Linguistic expertise is characterized as a way to prove the violation of a person’s business reputation, ways to determine the appropriate defendant in cases of protection of a person’s business reputation are established. Emphasis is placed on the statute of limitations used in cases of protection of business reputation of the person and the procedure for calculating the statute of limitations, emphasizing the inadmissibility of prosecution for making evaluative judgments, defining the legal nature and essence of evaluative judgments. The practice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine on cases of business reputation violations of individuals and legal entities is analyzed, foreign experience in business reputation protection is characterized, the difference between national and foreign experience in business reputation protection is established. Particular attention is paid to the liability of providers for breach of business reputation in accordance with European and US law. According to the analysis, conclusions are formulated on the directions and prospects for improving the current legislation of Ukraine in the field of protection of business reputation.Business reputation is a non-property right of a person guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine, which pro-vides 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 non-property rights of individuals, including business reputation.