COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS

According to Article 49(1) in the Copyrights and Related Rights section of the Intellectual Property Law (hereinafter referred to as the “IP Law”), copyright registration is the filing of an application by the owner to the Copyright Office in order for information about works, authors, and owners of works to be recorded.

Copyright registration is not a compulsory procedure to be entitled the copyrights. Copyright registration is not required to establish copyrights; the copyrights are still protected even if the work was not registered. However, copyright registration is necessary for copyright protection, especially proving the existence of copyrights in disputes.

According to Article 49(2) in the Copyrights and Related Rights section of the IP Law, copyright holders do not have to prove the copyright in question belongs to them in disputes, unless there is proof against them. The Certificate of Copyright Registration is used as evidence to verify the owner’s status by default.

If the copyright is not registered, authors or owners must prove their copyright to the work in question when a dispute arises. They must offer proof on their own to demonstrate their copyright to the work in dispute. Sometimes, it is very difficult for an author or a copyright holder to prove his/her rights, or even that he/she is the author or copyright holder of the work in dispute.

The procedure for copyright registration is not too complicated, and the fee is fairly cheap compared to the practical benefits it provides.

As a result, authors and copyright holders should register their copyright as soon as possible when creating works, particularly those that are creative, have financial value, and are likely to be illegally exploited or stolen.

Copyrights include moral rights and economic rights.

Moral rights include the following:  to title their works; To attach their real names or pseudonyms to their works; to have their real names or pseudonyms acknowledged when their works are published or used; To publish their works or authorize other persons to publish their works; To protect the integrity of their works, and to prevent other persons from modifying, mutilating, or distorting their works in whatever form is prejudicial to their honor and reputation.

–          The author, who is not concurrently the owner of the work, has moral rights to the work he/she creates, including: To title their works; To attach their real names or pseudonyms to their works; To protect the integrity of their works, and to prevent other persons from modifying, mutilating or distorting their works in whatever form prejudicial to their honor and reputation.

–          The owner, of the work who is not concurrently author, has the moral rights to the work, including: To publish their works or authorize other persons to publish their works, exclude there are otherwise agreements between the author and the owner; To allow or not allow others to use the work under their ownership, exclude there are otherwise agreements between the author and the owner (Article 19 of the IP Law, Article 21 of Decree 22/2018/ND-CP).

Economic rights include the following:

(i) The author, who is also the owner of the work, has the right to make derivative works; To display their works to the public; To reproduce their works; To distribute or import original works or copies thereof; To communicate their works to the public by wire or wireless means, electronic information networks or any other technical means; To lease original cinematographic works and computer programs or copies thereof.

(ii) The author, who  is not concurrently the owner of the work, has property rights to the work of which he is the author, including: the right to be paid royalties; receive remuneration when the work is used; and receive an award for a work of which he is the author.

(iii) The owner, who is not concurrently the author of the work, has material benefits from the use of the work in the forms of publication, reproduction, display, exhibition, performance, radio, television, sound or video recording, taking pictures; translating, adapting, and renting (Article 22 of the Law on Intellectual Property, Article 21 of Decree 22/2018/ND-CP).

Related rights are those of organizations, individuals for performances, recordings, videos, broadcasts, and encrypted program-carrying satellite signals.

Types of works covered by copyright (according to Article 14 IP Law)

1. Literary and scientific works covered by copyright include:

a/ Literary and scientific works, textbooks, teaching courses and other works expressed in written languages or other characters;

b/ Lectures, addresses and other sermons;

c/ Press works;

d/ Musical works;

e/ Dramatic works;

f/ Cinematographic works and works created by a process analogous to cinematography (hereinafter referred to collectively as cinematographic works);

g/ Plastic-art works and works of applied art;

h/ Photographic works;

i/ Architectural works;

j/ Sketches, plans, maps and drawings related to topography or scientific works;

k/ Folklore and folk art works of folk culture;

l/ Computer programs and compilations of data.

2. Derivative works shall be protected according to the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article only if it is not prejudicial to the copyright to works used to create such derivative works.
3. Protected works defined in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article must be created personally by authors through their intellectual labor without copying others’ works.
4. The Government shall guide in detail the types of works specified in Clause 1 of this Article.