Author: Editor VCD

Nowadays, when social networks and online platforms are booming, downloading and using images on the Internet has become too familiar. However, many people are still unclear about image ownership and copyright, especially in the case of arbitrarily removing watermarks for use in posts, advertisements or designs. Is this action considered a violation of the law? Let’s find out more in the following article with VCD.

1. What is a watermark and what does it mean?

Watermark, also known as copyright mark, is a form of symbol, logo, author’s name or text inserted directly onto images, videos, or digital documents to show the intellectual property rights of the creator. This can be a blurred symbol in the corner of the photo, or a prominent text displayed on the photo, depending on how the author wants to protect his work.

Adding a watermark is not only for “decoration” but also an effective way to protect copyright, especially in the context of images being shared widely on social networks and online platforms.

The main purpose of watermark is:

• Affirming copyright: Watermark helps prove who created or owns the image, avoiding cases where others claim or copy it illegally.

• Preventing unauthorized copying, editing, and use: When an image is watermarked, it becomes more difficult to delete or edit, thereby limiting content theft.

• Helping viewers identify the origin of the work: Thanks to watermark, Internet users can easily know where the photo comes from, who created it, and from there can find the official source if they want to use it legally.

Watermark is a “shield” to protect content creators, helping them maintain intellectual property rights to their works in the online environment. This is also a reminder for image users to respect creative efforts and comply with copyright regulations.

2. Does removing watermarks violate copyright?

According to the Vietnamese Intellectual Property Law, any act of arbitrarily deleting, blurring or editing copyright management information, including watermarks, signatures, logos or any other identifying marks is considered a violation of copyright, unless there is written permission from the author or legal owner.

This action can lead to the following legal consequences:

• Administrative fines of 15 – 35 million VND (according to Decree 17/2023/ND-CP).

• Forced removal or destruction of all infringing copies.

• If using photos with watermarks removed for commercial purposes such as advertising, design, printing or sales, the violator can also be sued in civil proceedings and must compensate the copyright owner for damages.

Thus, “removing the watermark for beauty” seems harmless but in fact is a serious copyright infringement, which can cause you to face many unnecessary legal risks.

3. When is it allowed to use watermarked photos?

Although watermarks are considered a sign of ownership, not in all cases are you prohibited from using watermarked images. There are still legal exceptions that allow use, provided that you comply with the regulations and rights of the author. Specifically, you can use watermarked photos in the following cases:

• When explicitly permitted by the owner: If you want to use a watermarked image, the safest and most legal way is to ask for permission directly from the author or copyright holder. Some owners may allow free use if you clearly state the source, but others require a fee to grant legal use rights. This is how many businesses, agencies and professional content creators often apply to ensure that they do not violate copyright laws.

• Images licensed under Creative Commons (CC): Many authors are willing to share their works through Creative Commons (CC) licenses. For example, CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA… Some licenses allow others to edit, distribute or reuse images, even for commercial purposes, as long as they comply with the accompanying conditions (e.g., credit the author, do not misuse…).

• Images in the public domain: Images that have expired copyright protection or have been actively put into the public domain by the author will no longer be bound by copyright law. In this case, you can freely use them, including editing or removing the watermark if any, without asking for permission. However, to ensure the credibility of the content, you should still carefully check the source of the image to make sure it is really in the Public Domain.

• Use for non-commercial illustration purposes: In some special cases, you can use watermarked images for non-commercial purposes, such as: Illustrations in academic articles, research reports, citations of images in lectures, educational materials, inclusion in news articles with clear notes about the origin. However, although considered “fair use” in some contexts, asking for permission in advance is always encouraged to avoid unwanted disputes later.

Above is the article “Is removing watermarks for use a violation of copyright?” VCD sent to you. Hopefully, these shares will help you better understand the image copyright regulations and know how to use the content legally and correctly.

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Over time, each work has a certain “life cycle” of protection according to the provisions of the law on copyright. When this protection period ends, the property rights of the author or owner of the work are no longer protected by law, and the work will belong to the public. However, in reality, there are still many cases that raise the question: can a work whose protection period has expired be re-registered to continue to be protected? The following article by VCD will help you.

1.      Regulations on the term of copyright protection.

According to the current Intellectual Property Law, copyright can be understood as the rights of organizations and individuals to works they create or own, including personal rights and property rights.

Article 27 of the Law on Intellectual Property stipulates the term of copyright protection in detail as follows:

• First of all, the term of protection for personal rights will be indefinite except for the right to publish the work or allow others to publish the work.

• Then the term of protection for this right to publish will be similar to that of property rights, with each type of protection term being different as follows:

• Cinematographic works, photographic works, applied fine arts works, anonymous works have a term of protection of 75 years from the date of first publication;

• Cinematographic works, photographic works, applied fine arts works that have not been published within 25 years from the date of creation of the work, the term of protection is 100 years from the date of creation of the work;

• In the case of anonymous works, when information about the author appears or the work does not belong to the above-mentioned type, the protection period is calculated as the entire life of the author and 50 years following the year of the author’s death; in the case of works with co-authors, the protection period ends in the fiftieth year after the year of the death of the last co-author.

Note: This protection period ends at 24:00 on December 31 of the year in which the copyright protection period ends.

Property rights are exclusively exercised by the author, copyright owner or allowed to be exercised by others in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Intellectual Property. Organizations and individuals when exploiting, using one, some or all of the above rights must ask for permission and pay royalties, remuneration, and other material benefits to the copyright owner.

2.      Can a work whose protection period has expired be re-registered?

According to the above analysis, the copyright protection period is divided into two groups: personal rights and property rights. In which, some personal rights such as the right to name, the right to stand in the name, the right to protect the integrity of the work, etc. are protected indefinitely. On the contrary, property rights, i.e. the right to exploit, copy, distribute, and communicate the work, are only protected for a certain period of time depending on the type of work (usually the author’s lifetime and 50 years after the author’s death).

When the property rights protection period expires, the work will belong to the public. This means that any individual or organization can exploit and use that work without asking for permission or paying compensation to the author or previous owner, as long as the personal rights are respected (no distortion, cutting, or falsification of the content or origin of the work).

Therefore, a work whose protection period has expired cannot be re-registered for copyright. Because registration is only to record the rights that are still in effect, while for works belonging to the public, the property rights of the author or owner have ended. Re-registration, if any, will have no legal value and will not be accepted by the competent state agency.

However, if an individual or organization creates, edits, or develops a work that is already in the public domain (for example, translation, adaptation, adaptation, re-illustration, etc.), the new derivative work can be registered for copyright separately. In this case, the protection only applies to the new creation and does not include the original content that is already in the public domain.

In conclusion, copyright registration is an administrative procedure to record existing rights, not the basis for creating rights. Therefore, re-registration of works whose protection period has expired has no legal basis. At the same time, the Copyright Office can only issue a Certificate when the author or owner’s rights are still valid. Once the work is in the public domain, all property rights have ended, so re-registration will not be accepted.

Above is the article “Can a work that has expired its protection period be re-registered?” that VCD sent to you. We hope this article is useful to you.

Sincerely,

In the process of running a business, many directors not only take on a management role but also directly participate in creating intellectual products such as designs, software or media content. These works both demonstrate the personal capacity of the leader and are closely linked to the company’s operations. Therefore, questions have arisen about determining the subject holding ownership of works created by the director. To understand this issue, please follow the article of VCD below.

1.      Concept of author, copyright owner?

According to Clause 2, Article 4 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 (amended and supplemented 2009, 2019), copyright is the right of an organization or individual to the 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.

According to Clause 1, Article 13 of the current Intellectual Property Law, organizations and individuals whose works are protected by copyright include the person who directly creates the work and the copyright owner as stipulated in Articles 37 to 42 of this Law.

Thus, the author and the copyright owner are two groups of subjects protected by law. In which, the author is the person who directly creates a part or all of the literary, artistic, or scientific work and has personal rights to the work.

The copyright owner is an organization or individual holding one, some or all of the property rights specified in Article 20 of the Law on Intellectual Property, such as the right to copy, distribute, communicate or create derivative works. The owner can be the author himself, or an organization or individual who is assigned the right or invested in creating the work.

2.      If the director creates a work, does the company or individual own the copyright?

In an organization, the director is the head of the enterprise, the highest leadership position and has the main responsibility for operating and managing the enterprise’s activities. They head departments and have the authority to make strategic decisions to achieve the company’s goals. The director position is usually a person with experience and excellent leadership capacity. According to the provisions of Clause 24, Article 4 of the Law on Enterprises 2020, the director is one of the enterprise managers.

First of all, if the director creates the work as an individual, that is, the work is formed from the director’s own ideas, time and effort, not within the company’s assigned tasks, nor using the company’s funds, equipment or human resources, then the director is both the author and the copyright owner. In this case, all personal rights and property rights to the work belong to the director personally. The company has no right to exploit, use or distribute the work, unless there is a written transfer or license agreement between the two parties.

On the contrary, in the case where the work is created in the process of performing work according to the company’s assigned tasks, or using the company’s resources such as working time, equipment, finance or support staff, then according to the provisions of Article 39 of the Law on Intellectual Property, the company will be the copyright owner, and the director will be recognized as the author. This means that the director still has moral rights (such as being named as the author, protecting the integrity of the work), but property rights including the right to copy, distribute, publish, rent, or make derivative works belong to the company. This provision is to ensure fairness for the organization that has assigned the task and invested resources in the creative process.

In addition, the law also allows the parties to agree on ownership. For example, the company can transfer ownership of the work to the director or vice versa, depending on the purpose and interests of each party. This agreement should be clearly expressed in writing to avoid disputes arising later when the work is commercially exploited.

Thus, determining the subject of copyright ownership in the case of a director creating a work cannot be based solely on the position or labor relationship, but must consider the context, conditions of creation, resources used and the agreement between the parties. Only when these factors are clearly identified can we accurately confirm the ownership of the director or the company, ensuring compliance with the provisions of the law and the legitimate rights of the parties involved.

Above is the article “ If the director creates a work, does the company or individual own the copyright?” that VCD sends to you. We hope this article is useful to you.

Sincerely,

In the context of increasingly diverse creative activities, many literary works, art, computer software or other creative products are formed very early, even by minors. This raises an important legal question: Do people under 18 have the right to register copyright protection for their works? The following VCD article will help you.

1.      What is copyright?

Clause 2, Article 4 of the current Intellectual Property Law stipulates: Copyright is the right of an organization or individual to a work they create or own.

Accordingly, copyright arises from the time a work is created and expressed in a certain material form, regardless of content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered. However, when there is a dispute between the author or owner, it is very difficult to prove ownership of the work, so it is necessary to register copyright for the work you created.

2.      Can a person under 18 years of age register for copyright?

According to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law, for a work to be protected, it must meet the following conditions:

Conditions for the work:

• The work must be creative, must be created directly by the author, not copied from another person’s work in any form.

• The work must be expressed in a certain material form.

• Belong to the type of work protected under Article 14 of the current Intellectual Property Law, including: musical works, computer programs, literary works, etc.

Conditions for the author and copyright owner

• The author is the person who directly creates and is also the owner of the work.

• Vietnamese or foreign individuals or organizations whose works are simultaneously published in Vietnam within 30 days of the first publication in another country.

• Vietnamese and foreign individuals or organizations whose works are first published in Vietnam and have not yet been published in any other country.

• Foreign individuals or organizations whose works are protected in Vietnam under international treaties to which Vietnam is a member.

Copyright arises as soon as the work is fixed in a certain material form, regardless of registration procedures. Simultaneous publication within 30 days allows the work to be distributed internationally but still be protected in Vietnam. Works first published in Vietnam, whether by foreign individuals or organizations, are also protected if they have not yet appeared in another country. For works by foreign authors, protection is applied when consistent with international treaties to which Vietnam is a member.

Thus, Vietnamese law does not set an age limit for creators of works. According to the Law on Intellectual Property, copyright arises as soon as the work is fixed in a certain material form and registration is only to establish evidence of rights. Therefore, a person under 18 years of age, if he is the author or legal owner of the work, can completely submit an application for copyright protection, as long as the application and procedures meet legal regulations (for example: providing personal information, work samples, identification documents).

3.      Copyright registration procedures

According to the provisions of the Law on Intellectual Property, the author or copyright owner can be an individual, a domestic legal entity or a foreign individual or legal entity. These entities all have the right to submit an application for copyright registration for their work to the Copyright Office.

Step 1: Determine the type of work

Clearly determine the type of work to be registered (literature, art, music, computer software, etc.) to choose the appropriate form of registration.

Step 2: Prepare documents and information

After determining the type, the owner or authorized person prepares all necessary documents and information to prepare the registration file.

Step 3: Prepare the registration file

• The application for copyright and related rights includes:

• The application for copyright registration according to the latest form.

• 02 copies of the work or 02 copies of the fixed version for related rights.

• Power of attorney, if the applicant is an authorized person.

• Documents proving the right to submit the application, if the applicant is transferred or inherits the rights.

• Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors.

• Written consent of co-owners, if the copyright or related rights are jointly owned.

Note: Documents in sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 must be prepared in Vietnamese; if in a foreign language, they must be translated into Vietnamese and notarized or certified. Copies attached to the application must be notarized or certified.

Step 4: Submit application

Authors, copyright owners or authorized persons submit applications online at the National Public Service Portal and submit them in person at:

Headquarters of the Copyright Office in Hanoi (Northern region).

Representative office of the Copyright Office in Da Nang (Central region) or Ho Chi Minh City (Southern region).

Step 5: Tracking the application

After receiving, the application is assessed by a specialist. If necessary, the registration authority will request the applicant to supplement or edit the application to ensure its validity.

Step 6: Receive the Certificate

Once the application has been fully assessed and confirmed, the Copyright Office issues a Certificate of Copyright Registration to record the ownership of the author or owner.

The above is the article “Can people under 18 registerS for copyright protection?” that VCD sent to you. We hope this article is useful to you.

Sincerely,

During the creative process, each work is associated with the legitimate rights of the author and copyright owner. Intellectual property law stipulates a certain period of time for the author or owner to have the exclusive right to exploit the value of his work. So, when the protection period expires, will the work become public property? The following article from VCD will help you.

1.      Duration of copyright protection

Copyright for works includes personal rights and property rights. Each group of rights has a different protection period, in which some rights are protected by law indefinitely, while others are only protected for a certain period of time.

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 27 of the Law on Intellectual Property, the term of protection of personal rights is determined as follows: personal rights associated with the author will be protected by law indefinitely, including: (i) the right to name the work; (ii) the right to have the real name or pen name on the work; (iii) the right to have the real name or pen name stated when the work is published or used; (iv) the right to protect the integrity of the work, not allowing others to edit, cut or distort the work in any form that harms the honor and reputation of the author. Particularly for the right to publish the work or allow others to publish the work, the term of protection will correspond to the term of protection of property rights.

Regarding property rights, pursuant to Clause 2, Article 27 of the Law on Intellectual Property, the term of protection is specifically stipulated as follows: (i) for cinematographic, photographic, theatrical, applied art and anonymous works: 75 years from the date of first publication; (ii) in case the above types of works have not been published within 25 years from the date of their formation, the term of protection shall be 100 years from the date of their formation; (iii) for other types of works not falling under the above cases, the term of protection shall be the lifetime of the author and 50 years following the year of the author’s death; if there are co-authors, the term of protection shall end in the 50th year following the year of the death of the last co-author.

In addition, the Law on Intellectual Property also clearly stipulates that the term of copyright protection shall end at 24:00 on December 31 of the year in which the term of protection ends. This is to ensure consistency, transparency and convenience in determining the time of copyright termination for a work.

2.      When the protection period expires, will the work become public property?

According to Article 43 of the current Intellectual Property Law, a work whose protection period has expired as prescribed in Article 27 of the current Intellectual Property Law belongs to the public.

Based on this provision and the copyright term analyzed above, it can be seen that the work belongs to the public when the protection period expires. In particular, the concept of “protection term” here is understood as the term of protection of the right to publish the work and the property rights associated with the work. As for personal rights, except for the right to publish the work, they are protected indefinitely, because these rights are associated with the honor, reputation and name of the author. Therefore, the protection term is only set for property rights as well as the right to publish the work.

From the above provisions, it can be determined that the work will belong to the public in the following specific cases:

• For cinematographic, photographic, applied art and anonymous works, after 70 years from the date of first publication, the property rights will expire, and the work will belong to the public.

• For cinematographic, photographic, applied art works that have not been published within 25 years from the date of fixation, the term of protection is 100 years from the date of fixation. After this term, the work will become the common property of the public.

• For other types of works not falling under the above cases, the term of property rights protection is determined to be the lifetime of the author and the next 50 years after the year of the author’s death. If the work has co-authors, this term will end in the 50th year after the death of the last co-author. When the protection period expires, the work will also belong to the public.

The above regulation on the protection period ensures the harmony of interests between the author, copyright owner and the common interests of society. During the protection period, the author and copyright owner have the exclusive right to exploit and use the work to gain legitimate profits from their creative efforts. After this period expires, the work becomes a common heritage, creating conditions for society to freely access, use and create based on the established cultural, scientific and artistic values.

Above is the article ” After the protection period expires, will the work become public property? ” that VCD sends to you. We hope this article is useful to you.

Sincerely,

In the digital age, Wikipedia is one of the world’s largest open knowledge repositories, where users can search for information with many illustrative images. Because of this convenience, many people often assume that images on Wikipedia are free and can be used freely, even for commercial purposes. So, do you need permission to take photos from Wikipedia for commercial use? The following VCD article will help you.

1.      What is the commercial purpose in copyright?

Copyright is the right of an organization or individual to a work they have created or own, as explained in Clause 2, Article 4 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law (amended 2009 Intellectual Property Law). In which, copyright to a work is formed from personal rights and property rights.

The term “commercial purpose” is used a lot in the provisions of intellectual property law in general and copyright law in particular. Simply put, “commercial purpose” is an act aimed at generating economic profit or other benefits. This activity includes acts such as buying, selling, distributing, providing services, investing, and other transactions with the goal of making a profit from the work. In most cases, using a work for commercial purposes requires permission and remuneration to the copyright owner, except in certain cases permitted by law.

2.      Do you need permission to take photos from Wikipedia for commercial use?

According to the provisions of Article 4 of the current Intellectual Property Law: photographic works, works of applied art, video recordings, etc. are objects protected by copyright and related rights. Any use of a work must comply with the provisions on personal rights and property rights of the author and owner, except for cases falling under the limitations of copyright and related rights stipulated in Article 25, Article 32, Article 33 of this Law.

For images on Wikipedia, these works are uploaded by the user community under different license regimes, mainly Creative Commons (CC) or public domain (Public Domain). Each type of license stipulates its own conditions of use, including conditions related to commercial use.

• Public domain (Public Domain): Works whose protection period has expired or whose author/owner voluntarily renounced their rights. These works can be used for commercial purposes without permission.

• Creative Commons (CC) license: includes 4 elements:

• Attribution (BY): this is a mandatory element for all CC licenses.

• Non-commercial (NC): do not use the work for commercial purposes

•  No Derivative (ND): do not allow modification of the original work.

• ShareAlike (SA): derivative works must carry the same license as the original work.

Based on 4 optional factors, the Creative Commons system has 7 standard licenses, including:

CC zero (CC0): Special license, content is in the public domain, licensees are allowed to do anything with that work.

CC – attribution (CC BY): allows sharing (copying, redistributing content in any medium or format), customization (mixing, transforming and building on that work for any purpose, including commercialization), as long as the author is properly credited.

CC – Attribution – Share Alike (CC BY-SA): Allowed to share, adapt, commercialize, as long as the author is properly credited; derivative works, if any, must have the same license as the original work.

CC – Attribution – Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC): Allowed to share, adapt, but not allowed to use the work for commercial purposes, must always acknowledge the correct credit to the author when using that product.

CC – Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share Alike (CC BY – NC – SA): Allowed to share, adapt, but not allowed to use for commercial purposes, derivative works, if any, must have the same license as the original work, must always acknowledge the correct credit to the author when using that product.

CC – Attribution – No Derivatives (CC BY – ND): Allowed to share (for commercial or non-commercial purposes), but not allowed to modify, must always acknowledge the correct credit to the author when using that product.

CC – Attribution – Non-commercial – No derivatives (CC BY – NC – ND): allowed to share, but not to use for commercial purposes, not to modify the work, must always acknowledge the author when using that product.

Therefore, the work can be exploited in which:

Carrying a Creative Commons license that allows commercial use (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-ND): Users have the right to exploit for commercial purposes, provided that the author’s name, origin and compliance with the specific conditions of each type of license are clearly stated.

Carrying a restricted license (CC BY-NC or All Rights Reserved): Users are only allowed to exploit non-commercially; in case of commercial use, written consent from the author or copyright owner is required.

Incolusion, taking images from Wikipedia for commercial use is not automatically allowed but must be based on the specific license attached to the work.

Above is the article “Is permission required to use images from Wikipedia for commercial purposes?” that VCD sent to you. We hope this article is useful to you.

Sincerely,

In the context of international integration, creative collaboration between Vietnamese and foreign authors is becoming more and more popular. These works can be of many different types such as literature, art, science, computer programs, etc. When there is a need to register copyright in Vietnam, the question is how to register copyright for works created by Vietnamese and foreign authors? The following article from VCD will help you.

1.      What is co-authorship?

According to Article 12a of the current Intellectual Property Law, it is stipulated that:

2. A person who supports, gives opinions or provides materials for another person to create a work is not the author or co-author.

3. The exercise of personal rights and property rights to co-authored works must have the agreement of the co-authors, except in cases where the work has separate parts that can be separated for independent use without prejudice to the parts of other co-authors or other laws provide otherwise.

Co-authors are those who directly create literary, artistic, or scientific works.

Co-authors can be indivisible co-authors and divisible co-authors. Indivisible co-authors cannot be determined when it is not possible to determine which part of the work each co-author created. Divisible co-authors can be when each co-author creates a part of the work and that part can be used independently (divided in a cross-sectional form) or each author creates a part throughout the work (divided in a vertical form).

For works with co-authors, the use and disposal of the work must be agreed upon by all co-authors. If a co-author has died, the agreement of the co-author’s heir must be obtained.

2.      What is the copyright registration procedure for works co-created by Vietnamese and foreign authors?

Clause 2, Article 13 of the current Law on Intellectual Property stipulates the conditions for foreign authors to register for protection in Vietnam:

“Authors and copyright owners specified in Clause 1 of this Article include Vietnamese organizations and individuals; foreign organizations and individuals whose works are first published in Vietnam but have not been published in any other country or are simultaneously published in Vietnam within thirty days from the date the work is first published in another country; foreign organizations and individuals whose works are protected in Vietnam under international treaties on copyright to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member”.

Thus, foreign authors still have the right to apply for copyright registration in Vietnam, as long as their works are within the scope of protection. This is the legal basis to affirm the legality when carrying out procedures for co-created works with foreign elements.

When registering copyright, Article 50 of the Law on Intellectual Property and Article 39 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP clearly stipulate the components of the dossier to be submitted. The dossier includes a copyright registration form, two copies of the work, identification documents of the author, authorization documents (if any) and documents proving the right to submit the dossier. In case a foreign author participates in co-creation, identification documents such as passports must be notarized and translated into Vietnamese. In addition, if there is an agreement between co-authors established abroad, this document must be consularized according to Article 5 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, except in cases exempted by international treaties.

Regarding the submission process, the dossier can be submitted to the Copyright Office in Hanoi or representative offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. Within 15 working days from the date of receiving a complete and valid dossier, the Copyright Office will issue a Certificate of Copyright Registration. On this certificate, the names of both the Vietnamese author and the foreign author are recorded, ensuring equal rights between co-authors.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that the copyright registration procedure for a co-created work between a Vietnamese author and a foreign author is basically similar to that of a domestic work. The main difference lies in the preparation of a valid dossier for the foreign author, including translation, notarization, consular legalization and clear agreement between the co-authors.

Above is the article “What is the copyright registration procedure for a work co-created by Vietnamese and foreign authors?” that VCD sends to you. We hope this article is useful to you.

Sincerely,