When an act of infringement of copyright or related rights occurs, in addition to administrative and criminal measures, relevant individuals and organizations can simultaneously apply civil measures to ensure their rights and protect their rights. In principle, filing a lawsuit for copyright or related rights infringement must follow the civil proceedings prescribed by the Civil Procedure Code. Specifically, in this case, what basic conditions does the subject whose rights are violated need to meet to protect their rights through civil lawsuits? The following article will provide information about the conditions for filing civil lawsuits for copyright and related rights infringement.
1. Subjects have the right to initiate civil lawsuits
According to the spirit of Intellectual Property Law, especially specialized legal documents as in Section II (1) Joint Circular No. 02/2008/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BVHTT&DL-BKH&CN-BTP regulating the right to initiate civil lawsuits about copyright and related rights, subjects are entitled to initiate civil lawsuits when detecting acts of infringement of copyright or related rights including:
- Authors, performers, producers of audio and video recordings, broadcasting organizers;
- Copyright owners and related rights owners;
- The legal heir of the author or owner of copyright and related rights;
- Individuals and organizations have transferred the rights of the copyright and related rights owners;
- Individuals and organizations may use works according to contract;
- Organizations representing collective rights of copyright and related rights or other organizations or individuals authorized by copyright owners or related rights owners;
- State agencies and relevant organizations, within the scope of their duties and powers, have the right to initiate civil lawsuits to protect public interests and the interests of the State in the field of copyright and related rights.
In conclusion, Intellectual Property Law also has relatively detailed and complete regulations on subjects with the authority to initiate civil lawsuits when detecting acts of infringement of copyright and related rights to ensure the protection of the rights of these subjects when rights violations occur.
2. Conditions for initiating a civil lawsuit when detecting acts of infringement
Subjects who want to initiate a civil lawsuit on copyright and related rights need to meet the following two conditions specified in Section III (1) Joint Circular 02/2008/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC- BVH, Sports & Tourism-BKH&CN-BTP:
Firstly, copyright and related rights have arisen according to the provisions of Clause 1 and Clause 2, Article 6 of the Intellectual Property Law.
- Copyright arises and is automatically protected when the work is created and expressed in a certain material form (song, computer program, architectural work…), regardless of content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
- Related rights arise and are protected automatically from the moment performances, audio recordings, video recordings, broadcasts, and encrypted program-carrying satellite signals are fixed or made available without prejudice and harm to copyright.
It should be noted that applying for a Certificate of Copyright and Related Rights Registration is not mandatory for copyright and related rights protection. When there is a dispute over copyright or related rights and the litigant initiates a lawsuit to request the Court to protect their legitimate rights and interests, the Court must consider it regardless of whether they have a registration certificate. whether they have signed a copyright or related rights registration certificate or not, whether they have applied or not yet filed an application for copyright or related rights registration. However, authors and copyright owners should register as soon as possible to best ensure their rights.
Secondly, the term of copyright and related rights protection is still following the law. Depending on the type of protected work, the protection term will have different periods, as specified in Article 27 and Article 34 of the current Intellectual Property Law. For example, when filing a lawsuit to protect a cinematographic work, the copyright owner must check whether the cinematographic work meets the condition of a protection term of 75 years from the time the work was first published. fairy or not. The Court will not accept the petition if it has been more than 75 years.
When the protection term expires as prescribed by law, the rights of the author, copyright owner, and related rights owner are no longer protected by the State and law, unless otherwise provided for by law. determine the term of protection for copyright. This is an issue that rights holders must pay close attention to when initiating lawsuits to ensure their legitimate rights and interests.
Above is the article “Conditions for initiating a civil lawsuit when detecting acts of copyright infringement“. We hope this article is useful to you.
