Copyright is increasingly being focused on protecting the rights of individuals and organizations that own works. In the field of publishing, copyright protection is not only important but also brings many benefits to both authors and publishers. So, what are the legal regulations on copyright protection in the field of book publishing? Please follow the article of VCD below.
1. Definition
1.1. Copyright
According to Clause 2, Article 4 of the current Law on Intellectual Property, copyright is the right of organizations and individuals to works they create or own. Therefore, Copyright can be understood in the following two aspects:
On the objective side, Copyright is a synthesis of legal norms to confirm and protect the rights of authors and copyright owners, and to determine the obligations of subjects in the creation and use of literary, artistic, and scientific works.
On the subjective side, Copyright is a civil right including property rights and personal rights of the subject as an author or copyright owner of literary and artistic works, scientific works, and the right to sue or not to sue when their rights are violated.
1.2. Book publishing
Publishing is a Sino-Vietnamese word in English that means to announce to the public. The definition of publishing in the Vietnamese encyclopedia is an activity in the field of cultural ideology through the production and dissemination of publications to many people. Publishing is a dissemination activity, which itself does not include the stage of creating works. Publishing, exploiting, disseminating, and popularizing works is a continuous stage of enhancing cultural values, replicating and bringing them to the public. Publishing includes three stages: editing, printing, and distributing publications.
Accordingly, the Publishing Law 2012 stipulates the concept of publishing as the organization of exploiting manuscripts, editing into templates for printing and distribution, or for direct distribution through electronic means.
Thus, book publishing in a broad sense is the process of organizing social resources by creating works, printing, duplicating works, and disseminating them to many people to achieve economic, political, and social efficiency.
Book publishing in a narrow sense is the impact on the author’s creative process from the original manuscript, which will be reviewed, the content and form will be perfected into a sample for printing and bringing books to many people.
2. Copyright protection in the field of book publishing
In terms of law, copyright protection in the field of book publishing is a synthesis of legal provisions to establish and recognize copyright for organizations and individuals, manage, use, and exploit copyright in the field of book publishing, and ensure the implementation of regulations in practice to combat infringements.
According to the 2012 Publishing Law, copyright in the field of publishing is the publication of works, documents, and reprinting of books only after receiving written approval from the author and copyright owner in accordance with the provisions of the law.
It can be seen that copyright in the field of book publishing is a specific form of copyright in general, so the content of copyright in the field of book publishing also includes personal rights and property rights to the book created from the publishing process. Therefore, the author has the right to allow the publisher to print his work as a printed book or an e-book if it meets the author’s rights requirements. This right ensures the rights of the author as part of the guarantee for the effort they have made in creating their work.
The characteristics of copyright protection in this field are as follows:
- The subject is publications expressed in the form of printed books or e-books. The subject of copyright protection must satisfy two conditions: original creation and expression in a certain material form.
- Regarding the subject of copyright protection in the field of book publishing: this legal relationship is the relationship between the author, copyright owner, publisher, and user of the work.
- Regarding the content of copyright protection in the field of book publishing: it is the regulation of legal responsibilities for subjects participating in the field of book publishing to respect and protect the personal rights and property rights of the author to the work as prescribed in Articles 19 and 20 of the current Law on Intellectual Property.
Copyright protection mechanism in the field of book publishing:
- The current Intellectual Property Law stipulates the automatic protection mechanism in Clause 1, Article 6 as follows: Copyright arises from the moment a work is created and expressed in a certain material form, regardless of content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered. Which, the automatic protection mechanism is a specific mechanism for copyright protection according to the general provisions of the Berne Convention, of which Vietnam is a member country.
Duration of copyright protection in the field of book publishing:
- The protection period for personal rights according to Clause 1, Article 27 of the Intellectual Property Law is unlimited because personal rights are special rights that cannot be exchanged for others (except for the right to publish), it is a special right attached to each individual.
- The term of protection for property rights is according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 27, the term of protection for copyright is for works other than cinematographic works, photographic works, applied fine arts works, anonymous works with a term of protection of the entire life of the author and fifty years after the death of the author. In the case of co-authors, the term of protection ends in the fiftieth year after the death of the last co-author.
Above is the article “Copyright protection in the field of Book Publishing” that VCD sent to
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