Author: Editor VCD

In reality, the author cannot always directly submit a copyright registration application for his work. For reasons of time, geography or to ensure the accuracy of the application, many people choose to authorize another organization or individual to carry out the procedure on their behalf. However, many people still wonder whether authorizing copyright registration is permitted by law or not? The following article from VCD will help you.

1.      What is authorization? How long is the authorization period?

Authorization is an agreement between the parties according to which the authorized party will be obliged to perform the work on behalf of the authorizing party.

Authorization is one of two forms of representation as prescribed by law, recognized in Article 135 of the 2015 Civil Code. Accordingly, the right of representation is established by authorization between the represented person and the representative (called authorized representation) or by decision of a competent state agency, according to the charter of the legal entity or according to the provisions of law (generally called legal representation).

Regarding the term, currently, the 2015 Civil Code does not specifically regulate the power of attorney, but regulates authorization through a contract.

According to Article 563 of the 2015 Civil Code, the term of authorization is agreed upon by the parties or prescribed by law; if there is no agreement and no provision of law, the authorization contract is valid for 01 year from the date of establishment of authorization.

Therefore, according to the above provisions, the term of the authorization contract is determined in three cases:

• The authorization term is agreed upon by the parties;

• The authorization term is prescribed by law;

• If there is no agreement and no provision of law, the authorization contract is valid for 01 year from the date of establishment of the authorization.

2.      Can the author authorize another person to register copyright?

According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 50 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property (amended and supplemented in 2022), the author or copyright owner can directly submit the application for copyright registration or authorize another organization or individual to submit the application on their behalf. This authorization is permitted by law to facilitate the applicant, especially in cases where they cannot directly carry out the procedure at the competent authority.

Pursuant to Clause 6, Article 38 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, the authorization document must be made in writing and include the following basic contents:

• Information of the authorizing party and the authorized person (full name, address, contact);

• Specific name of the work authorized for registration (for example: musical, literary, fine art, photographic work, etc.);

• Scope of authorization, clearly stating the authorized person is allowed to perform tasks such as submitting documents, signing, monitoring documents, receiving the Certificate of Copyright Registration;

• Duration of authorization;

• In case the authorizing party is an individual, the authorization document must have a notarized signature to ensure legality.

According to the provisions of Article 39 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, in addition to the registration form and a copy of the work, the copyright registration dossier must also include a power of attorney in case the applicant is not the author or direct owner. The copyright registration dossier includes:

• Copyright registration form (according to the form issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism);

• Two copies of the registered work (printed or hard copy; if there is an electronic copy, submit the data file);

• Power of attorney (if the dossier is submitted through a representative, and the signature must be certified if the authorized party is an individual);

• Documents proving ownership of the work (such as citizen identification card, business registration certificate, transfer contract, inheritance document, or decision to assign creative tasks, etc.);

• Written consent of co-authors (in case the work has two or more authors);

• Written consent of co-owners (if the work has multiple owners);

• Written consent of the person with the image if the work uses a personal image;

• Documents in foreign languages ​​(if any) must be translated into Vietnamese and properly certified.

In reality, copyright registration often requires an understanding of legal regulations and experience in handling documents. Many individuals have difficulty determining the type of work, preparing documents proving ownership or explaining to competent authorities. Therefore, authorizing a specialized organization or individual to carry out the registration procedure not only saves time and effort, but also ensures that the documents are prepared in accordance with regulations and limits legal risks.

Above is the article “Can an author authorize another person to register copyright?” that VCD sends to you. We hope this article is useful to you.

Sincerely,

Frequently asked questions

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.

Sincerely,

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,