For the author or owner of the work, copyright registration will be a recognition of their efforts and creativity, and a talisman to prove if a dispute occurs. However, in reality, there are still many conflicting opinions surrounding copyright registration. And, without copyright registration, will the works be protected? Please follow our article below.
1. What is copyright registration?
“Copyright is the right of organizations and individuals to works they create or own” based on Clause 2, Article 4 of the Intellectual Property Law. Copyright is recognized for literary works, art, books, lectures, musical works, theatrical works, cinematographic works, computer software… When a work is created, the author, or owner of the work, will have moral and property rights to that work.
Copyright registration is an act in which the author or owner carries out registration procedures with a competent authority according to the provisions of law to establish and declare legal ownership of the work through a Certificate. This is a legal recognition of creativity; The author’s efforts with their brainchild. Currently, copyright registration is not mandatory, but only subjects that meet the following conditions have the right to register copyright:
- Organizations and individuals whose works are protected by copyright include the person directly creating the product and the owner of the work being protected by copyright in Vietnam as above.
- According to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law, the author or owner of a work can be a domestic individual or legal entity or a foreign individual or legal entity and has the right to apply for copyright registration for the author. your work at the Copyright Office.
When submitting an individual registration application, a domestic legal entity can directly or authorize a copyright representative organization to submit the registration application to the registration agency on its behalf. Individuals and foreign legal entities who want to register a copyright in Vietnam will authorize a copyright representative organization to apply to register the work in Vietnam.
2. Basis for rising copyright
According to Clause 1, Article 6 of the Intellectual Property Law, it is stipulated: “Copyright rights arise from the moment a work is created and expressed in a certain physical form, regardless of content, quality, shape or form. form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered”. Accordingly, copyright is protected when two conditions are met:
- Fixation: expressed in a certain physical form;
- Originality: understood as the author himself creating the work, and this work must be the result of the first original creation.
Therefore, immediately after completing the work and even though copyright registration procedures have not yet been carried out, copyright will still arise from that moment. When a dispute occurs, in addition to the Copyright Certificate, the State Agency will base it on the time the work was created and shaped in a certain physical form.
3. Effects of copyright registration
Although copyright registration is not mandatory. However, if the author or owner of the work registers copyright with the Copyright Office, it will bring many advantages. After completing copyright registration procedures, the author or owner of the work is granted a Copyright Certificate. This is a certification of the author’s creativity and worthy rewards, encouraging the working spirit of the creator. In particular, registration will be the basis to confirm the time when copyright arises and the rights of the owner of the work.
The copyright registration certificate is intended to ensure the creator of a work against acts of illegal use of the work such as theft, copying, or misuse of that work.
In case of a dispute, the Copyright Registration Certificate is the best evidence proving the author’s ownership of the work. Because, in reality, proving ownership of a work that has not been registered for protection is very difficult.
If the author discovers that someone is illegally using his or her work, the author can request that the user stop using it and claim compensation for damages. This can only be done when the author has registered his copyright.
A copyright certificate is a type of document proving ownership of a work, used when valuing a company’s assets in cases of equitization, business acquisition, or merger.
Above is the article “Are the works protected without copyright registration?”. Hope this article will help you.
