Copyright is an important component of intellectual property rights, and therefore, it also possesses the outstanding characteristics of this field. The objects protected by copyright are intellectual creative activities, expressed through unique works in literature, art and science. Moreover, copyright also has certain limitations in terms of space, time and content of protection, to ensure fairness and reasonableness in the use of works. However, the question is whether copyright protects the content of the work or not. The following article of VCD will help you.
1. What is copyright?
The term “copyright” is expressed differently in different languages: English uses “copyright” (meaning the right to copy), French is “droit d’auteur” (author’s right), and German is “Urheberrecht” (copyright). This difference reflects the diverse approaches to the concept of copyright and the protected subjects. Depending on the viewpoint, copyright law in the world is divided into two systems: the continental European system (Droit Auteur – System) and the Anglo-American system (Copyright – System). Regardless of the approach, countries agree that copyright includes the rights (personal rights and property rights) of the subject (author and copyright owner) to their work, recognized and protected by law.
According to the current Vietnamese Intellectual Property Law, the concept of “copyright” according to Clause 2, Article 4 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law (amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019) is the right of an organization or individual to the work they create or own. In which, copyright arises from the moment the work is created and expressed in a certain material form, regardless of content, quality, form, means, language, regardless of whether the work has been published or not, registered or not with the competent authority.
Thus, as soon as the work is created, comes into being and exists in a recognizable form, copyright also arises from that moment. At the same time, the subject of copyright includes literary, artistic, and scientific works; the subject of rights related to copyright includes performances, sound recordings, video recordings, broadcast programs, and encrypted satellite signals carrying programs.
2. Does copyright protect content?
Characteristics of copyright:
- First, the subject of copyright is the product of creative spiritual activities. This creative field mainly focuses on culture and art, aiming to satisfy spiritual needs and improve knowledge in these fields. The work, as the subject of copyright, often reflects the thoughts, feelings, style and outlook on life of the creator, containing certain spiritual content.
- Second, copyright is established automatically. This means that copyright arises without any procedures or formalities. When a work is shaped and recognizable, the author or copyright owner automatically has rights to that work, and these rights are recognized and protected by law without the need for registration. However, protection will not apply when the work exists only in the creator’s idea.
- Finally, copyright only protects the form of expression of the work, not the creative idea.
One of the important characteristics of copyright is that it only protects the form of expression of the work, not the content inside. Creative works in the fields of literature, art and science are only valuable when the public can access them. Therefore, copyright is only protected by law when the work is expressed in a specific form that can be recognized and identified.
Creative activities often require material sources such as ideas and information, and these sources can be considered common property of society. Everyone has the right to exploit them freely, so they are not within the scope of copyright protection. From these common material sources, the author uses tools such as language, sound, images, and colors, and adds personal thoughts and feelings to create the work.
Although the ideas and themes of the works may overlap, the form of expression of each author cannot be identical, because the creative process depends on the way the author uses his materials and tools.
Based on the above analysis, it can be seen that the law only protects copyright for the form of expression, but does not protect the theme or content of the work.
Above is the article “Does copyright protect content?” that VCD sends to you. We hope this article is useful to you.
Sincerely,
