Copyright

Definition

Copyright is the right of organizations or individuals over the works they create or own.

Related rights are the rights of organizations or individuals over performances, sound recordings, audiovisual works, broadcasts, and satellite signals carrying encrypted programs.

Types of Works Eligible for Copyright Registration

a) Literary, scientific works, textbooks, teaching materials, and other works expressed in written form or other characters;

b) Lectures, speeches, and other oral presentations;

c) Journalistic works;

d) Musical works;

e) Dramatic works;

f) Cinematographic works and works created by similar methods (hereinafter referred to as cinematographic works);

g) Fine arts and applied arts works;

h) Photographic works;

i) Architectural works;

j) Maps, diagrams, drawings, and charts related to topography, architecture, and scientific constructions;

k) Folklore literary and artistic works;

l) Computer programs and database collections.

Works Not Protected by Copyright

The current law does not protect works in the following forms:

(1) Purely news reports;

(2) Legal documents, administrative texts, other judicial documents, and their official translations;

(3) Processes, systems, methods of operation, definitions, principles, and data.

Moral Rights and Economic Rights of the Author and/or Owner of the Work

The author and/or owner of the work have certain economic and moral rights, depending on the specific case.

Moral Rights include:

(1) The right to name the work;

(2) The right to use their real name or pseudonym on the work; to have their real name or pseudonym mentioned when the work is published, distributed, or used;

(3) The right to publish or allow others to publish their work;

(4) The right to protect the integrity of the work, to allow or disallow others from modifying, cutting, or distorting the work in any way that could harm the author's honor or reputation.

Economic Rights include:

(1) The right to create derivative works;

(2) The right to perform the work publicly;

(3) The right to reproduce the work;

(4) The right to distribute or import original or copies of the work;

(5) The right to communicate the work to the public by wire or wireless means, via electronic networks, or any other technical means;

(6) The right to rent the original or copies of cinematographic works or computer programs.

Term of Protection

In general, copyright is protected for the lifetime of the author plus 50 years after their death. Some moral rights (e.g., the right to name the work, the right to use the real name or pseudonym on the work, and the right to protect the integrity of the work) are protected indefinitely.

For cinematographic works, radio, television, video works, and posthumous works, copyright is protected for 50 years from the first publication of the work.

Copyright Registration

Although the protection of a work does not require registration, registering a work provides evidence of copyright or ownership of the work. If the Copyright Office approves the application, the organization or individual holding the certificate of copyright registration is considered the legal owner of the work in case of any disputes regarding the ownership of the work. To register a work, the author or copyright holder must submit a registration application to the Copyright Office. The application must comply with the format prescribed by the Ministry of Culture and Information and be accompanied by documents proving copyright/ownership of the work.

Our Services

• Consultation and representation for clients in the copyright registration procedures.
• Consultation and representation for clients in negotiating and drafting contracts for the use, transfer, and other related contracts concerning copyrights and related rights.
• Filing complaints regarding decisions related to the issuance of copyright certificates.
• Consultation on copyright protection for computer software and works distributed via the internet.