In Vietnamese culture, singing and music are important in cultural, family, and community events. Singing at agency festivals is also a popular and popular activity in Vietnam. In agency festivals, singing, and musical performances are often organized as part of entertainment programs or internal events. Employees can show off their solo singing skills, sing in a chorus, or join music groups, bands, or karaoke teams to showcase their musical talents and create a joyful, vibrant atmosphere. However, people often do not pay attention to whether singing like this violates copyright. VCD’s article below will answer this question.
1. Legal regulations on music copyright
Copyright for musical works is a form of copyright in general, specified in Clause 2, Article 4 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019, 2022 (Hereinafter referred to as abbreviated as “Intellectual Property Law 2005, amended and supplemented”) as follows: “Copyright is the right of organizations and individuals to works they create or own.”
Therefore, the copyright for musical works is the rights of organizations and individuals to musical works they compose or own, including moral rights and property rights to that musical work. In principle, copyright in musical works is protected from the moment the work is created, regardless of whether it is registered or unregistered.
Musical works belonging to the public, also known as “public domain works”, are works whose copyright is no longer protected by intellectual property laws. This can happen for many reasons, including the expiration of the copyright term or the author voluntarily surrendering the copyright. Once a musical work belongs to the public, anyone can use, copy, perform, and distribute it without asking permission or paying royalties.
2. Do I have to pay royalties for singing at an agency festival?
“Singing at an agency festival” can be understood as performing music or singing karaoke at a festival event of an agency, organization or business. Normally, during an agency festival, employees and members of the agency will participate in musical performances to entertain and create a fun atmosphere for the event.
Whether singing at an agency festival requires paying royalties or not depends on several factors, including the purpose and scope of use of the musical work:
- Scope of use for non-commercial purposes:
If singing at an agency festival is only an internal activity, has no commercial purpose, and does not collect fees from attendees, then as a rule, royalties may not be required. This is because the purpose of use here is non-commercial, entertainment, and internal connection.
However, if you use karaoke equipment, software, or services that already include licensing fees, you may not need to pay additional individual licensing fees for each song.
- Scope of use for commercial purposes:
If the festival collects fees from attendees or has any other commercial purpose, royalties must be paid. For example, if the event is held at a karaoke business or has a sponsor, the organizing agency may need to sign a contract and pay royalties for the use of copyrighted songs.
Therefore, if a song is not yet a work belonging to the public, royalties must be paid to the author if collecting money in any form.
Works belonging to the public are works whose protection period has ended according to the provisions of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law (amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019). The Intellectual Property Law in Vietnam has regulations on the term of copyright protection, and the rules on the term of protection for each specific type will have different points. But in general, after the end of the protection period, the work will belong to the public and everyone is allowed to exploit and use that work on the condition that it does not violate the author’s moral rights.
According to the provisions of law, copyright will arise from the moment the work is created and expressed in a certain material form without the need to register the copyright, so it has full rights. full rights.
Although we have the right to use public works without asking permission, we also need to pay attention to some issues. Specifically, Clause 2, Article 43 of the Intellectual Property Law stipulates the conditions when all organizations and individuals can use this work as follows:
“2. All organizations and individuals have the right to use the works specified in Clause 1 of this Article but must respect the personal rights of the author specified in Article 19 of this Law.
The author’s moral rights under Article 19 of the Intellectual Property Law include the following rights:
- Name the work
- Put your real name or pseudonym on the work
- Real name or pseudonym must be given when the work is published or used
- To publish or allow others to publish the work
- Do not allow others to edit, mutilate, or distort the work in any form that harms the author’s honor and reputation.
Therefore, when any organization or individual uses a work belonging to the public, they must respect the above-mentioned personal rights of the author.
In addition, if the use of this work harms the author’s moral rights, the violating organization or individual will be subject to:
- Request to stop the infringement
- Apologize and correct publicly
- Compensation for damages
- Can even be complained or denounced depending on the nature and extent of infringement and subject to administrative, civil, or criminal handling.
In conclusion, VCD sees that even if a musical work belongs to the public, modern recordings or remixes of that work may still be protected by related rights (rights of performers, producers of copies). recording, and broadcasting). Music works belonging to the public are an important part of cultural and artistic heritage, allowing everyone to access, use, and develop based on their values. had. Understanding and accurately identifying works that belong to the public helps ensure legal compliance and effective utilization of cultural resources.
