The preservation of indigenous culture is encouraged as society develops, particularly the protection of copyright for literary works and folk artworks. The legal provisions of Vietnam regarding the copyright protection of literary works and folk artworks will be clarified in this essay.
1. The concept of literary works, folk artworks
- Literary works and folk artworks are covered by copyright at Point I, Clause 1, Article 14 of the Law on Intellectual Property in 2005, amended and added in 2009 and 2022 (“IP Law”).
- Clause 1, Article 23 of the IP Law and Article 18 of Decree 22/2018/ND-CP, literary works, and folk artworks are collective creations on the traditional basis of a group or individuals in order to reflect the aspirations of the community, proportionately express their cultural and social characteristics, Standards and values are handed down by simulation or otherwise. Literary works and folk artworks include:
- Stories, poems, riddles (understood as verbal art forms);
- Singing, musical melodies; Dances, performances, rituals, and games (understood as performing arts such as rowing, canoeing, reform, puppetry, singing, musical melodies; dances, performances, folk games, village societies, folk ritual forms);
- Graphic art products, paintings, sculptures, musical instruments, architectural models, and other art forms are represented in any material form.
2. General principles of copyright protection for literary works and folk artworks
- Copyright protection for this kind of work is applied to general copyright protection rules in addition to the application of special provisions for literary works and folk artworks.
- The concepts of national treatment, automatic protection, natural protection, and independent protection are the three fundamental tenets governing copyright protection.
- Principles of National Treatment: As stated in Article 1 of Article 5 of the Berne Convention, authors of works protected by this Convention are entitled to copyright in all countries, with the exception of the country in which the work was created, as well as any other rights that may be granted to its citizens now or in the future by applicable national law. According to Article 13 of the IP Law, copyright holders who have works protected by copyright also include foreign groups and people whose works are protected in Vietnam by international copyright treaties to which Vietnam is a party.
- Automatic or natural defense is based on the following principles: The question of authorship emerges as soon as the work takes on a specific material form, independent of any formalities like registration or publication. Any form of expression through which the public can witness the presence of the work is referred to as having a “material form” in this context. This is confirmed by Clause 1, Article 6 of the IP Law, which states that the author’s claim arises because the work was created and expressed in a specific material form, regardless of content, substance, form, medium, language, publication, or publication, registration or registration, or any other circumstance.
- Independent protection principle: As stated in paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the Berne Convention, under which the practice and enjoyment of copyright are entirely independent of whether or not the work is protected in the nation of origin. As a result, in addition to the provisions of this Convention, the degree of protection and the avenues for complaint that ensure the author will be able to defend his rights will completely depend on the laws of the nation where the protection is in effect.
3. The standing of Vietnamese copyright legislation for works of literature and traditional art
- In Article 18 of Decree 22/2018/ND-CP, literary works, and folk art are stories, poems, and puzzles; Dances, musical melodies; Dances, performances, rituals, and protected games do not depend on shaping.
- The provisions of Clause 2, Article 23 of the Law on Intellectual Property and Clause 4, Article 18 of Decree 22/2018/ND-CP require organizations and individuals to acknowledge the source of literary works or folk art when using such works (specifically, by mentioning the origin and place names of the communities where literary works are located and folk art is formed). This protects the true worth of literary works and folk arts. The aforementioned uses cover gathering, learning about, performing, and educating people about the real worth of literature and folk art.
- Duration of protection (specified in Article 27 of the IP Law):
- Moral rights are eternally protected, including the right to name works, use a real name or a pseudonym when publishing or using them, protect the integrity of the work from tampering, and prohibit others from altering it in any way that might damage the author’s honor or reputation.
- For co-authored works, the protection period lasts until the fiftieth year following the passing of the last co-author. Moral rights (publication of the work or permission for others to publish the work) and property rights are protected for the lifetime of the author and for fifty years after the author’s death. The time of protection expires at 24 hours on December 31 of the year that the copyright protection period ends.
Above is the article “Copyright protection for literary works and folk artworks”, we hope this article is useful to you.
