How long is a copyright certificate valid and to what extent?

When a work is copyrighted, many authors and owners are often concerned about the time and extent to which the copyright certificate brings legal value. Understanding the validity of the certificate not only helps protect the rights of the copyright holder but also avoids confusion in the process of exploiting and using the work. So How long is a copyright certificate valid and to what extent?

     What is a copyright certificate?

Copyright, also known as authorship, is the right of an organization or individual to a work they create or own. In which, the subject of copyright includes literary, artistic, and scientific works; the subject of rights related to copyright includes performances, audio recordings, video recordings, broadcast programs, and encrypted satellite signals.

A Copyright Registration Certificate is a document issued by a competent State agency to an author or copyright owner to record information about the author, work, or copyright owner. A Copyright Registration Certificate includes the following contents:

• Name of the work;

• Type of work: Name, address, nationality, ID card number or Citizen Identification card number of the author or copyright owner;

• Number and date of issue of the Copyright Registration Certificate.

How long is a copyright certificate valid and to what extent?

   How long is a Copyright Certificate valid for?

Copyrights include two basic groups of rights: personal rights and property rights, each group has a different protection period. The protection period is calculated from the time the work is created and expressed in a certain material form, such as being written, drawn, or saved to a file. This expression helps to determine that the work has been formed and can be protected by law.

Regarding personal rights, the law protects a number of important rights associated with the author indefinitely. These rights include the right to name the work; the right to have one’s real name or pen name on the work and to be named when the work is used; along with the right to protect the integrity of the work, not allowing anyone to edit, cut or distort the work in a way that affects the honor or reputation of the author. These are rights that never end, even when the property protection period has expired.

Meanwhile, the right to publish the work and property rights are only protected for a certain period of time. For cinematographic works, photographic works, applied fine arts works and anonymous works, the protection period is 75 years from the date of first publication. In cases where these works have not been published within 25 years from the date of formation, the protection period is extended to 100 years from the date of formation.

For anonymous works whose authors are later identified, as well as other types of works (such as literature, music, art, etc.), the term of protection is calculated throughout the author’s life and 50 years after the author’s death. If the work has multiple co-authors, the term of protection ends in the 50th year after the death of the last co-author. All term marks end at 24:00 on December 31 of the year of expiry.

One point to note is that the current copyright registration certificate does not state the term of protection. This is because the term of protection is determined by law based on the type of work and the corresponding rights, not depending on the content stated on the certificate.

What is the scope of the protection certificate?

Pursuant to Article 53 of the current Law on Intellectual Property, the Certificate of Copyright Registration and the Certificate of Related Rights Registration are determined to be valid throughout the territory of Vietnam. This provision also affirms that the certificates issued by the State management agency of copyright and related rights before the Law on Intellectual Property takes effect will continue to maintain their legal value. This ensures the stability and continuity of the issued certificates, avoiding interruptions in the process of rights protection.

In parallel, Article 44 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP continues to clarify the principle of maintaining this validity. Specifically, the Certificates of Copyright Registration and Related Rights issued by predecessor agencies such as the Vietnam Copyright Protection Agency, the Vietnam Copyright Protection Agency, the Literary and Artistic Copyright Office, and the Copyright Office are all recognized and remain legally valid. Such a provision is to ensure that even if the management system changes over time, the rights of organizations and individuals who have been granted certificates are still fully protected.

Therefore, it can be affirmed that the scope of validity of the Certificate of Copyright Registration and Related Rights is the entire territory of Vietnam, and all certificates previously granted by competent authorities over time are recognized by law and continue to be valid.

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