In the current era of information technology explosion, creating and sharing knowledge has become easier than ever. However, this development also entails many challenges related to intellectual property rights. Especially at higher education institutions, where research and innovation are constantly taking place, the issue of copyright protection for scientific works becomes more urgent. So, how does the law protect copyright for scientific works at higher education institutions? Please follow the article of VCD below.
1. Scientific works at higher education institutions
Copyright protection is an activity to protect the achievements of organizations and individuals who have worked creatively and contributed to social progress. According to Clause 2, Article 4 of the Law on Intellectual Property, copyright is the right of an organization or individual to a work they create or own.
According to Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Intellectual Property, “The subject of copyright includes literary, artistic, scientific works,…” and according to Article 14 of this Law, the types of works protected by copyright are listed.
In higher education institutions, there are many types of works that can be protected by copyright, such as products of topics, projects, scientific and technological research tasks, lecture outlines, entrance exams, textbooks, lecture sets, scientific reports, electronic lectures, etc. Determining the owner of scientific research results is important in determining personal and property rights according to the provisions of law.
Clause 1, Article 41 of the Consolidated Law on Science and Technology 2022 stipulates: Organizations and individuals investing finance and technical facilities for the implementation of scientific and technological tasks are the owners of the results of scientific research and technological development, unless the parties have other agreements in the scientific research and technological development contract.
Therefore it can be understood that the owner of copyright for scientific works at higher education institutions is the organization or individual investing finance and technical facilities to create scientific research results. The owner of scientific research results has the right to publish scientific works along with the entire group of property rights stipulated in Article 20 of the Law on Intellectual Property.
2. Determining acts of copyright infringement in scientific research activities at higher education institutions.
The first is the violation related to the right to copy works:
According to the provisions of Clause 10, Article 4 of the 2022 Intellectual Property Law, copying is the creation of a copy of the whole or part of a work or audio or video recording by any means or form. Accordingly, direct or indirect copying of the whole or part of a work is also considered an act of copying. Acts of copyright infringement at higher education institutions can be through the reproduction of documents (photocopying, printing, copying, …) for use and distribution, recording and taking pictures of lectures of lecturers in class without permission. Article 25 of the Intellectual Property Law stipulates cases of using published works without permission and without paying royalties.
Second, violations related to quoting works:
Quoting works is the exact reproduction of a text without any corrections, distinguished from the surrounding text by quotation marks or formatting elements. According to the Intellectual Property Law, quoting without distorting the author’s meaning to comment or illustrate in one’s own work, quoting works without distorting the author’s meaning to write articles, use in periodicals, documentaries, not for commercial purposes, does not require permission from the author and does not require payment of royalties.
3. Solutions to improve the effectiveness of copyright protection for scientific works.
- Higher education institutions and management agencies need to issue internal guidelines in accordance with the current Intellectual Property Law, including the process of evaluating and publishing research results on the rights of each author.
- Raising awareness of copyright: strengthening education and propaganda for students about copyright and their responsibilities in the research process and copyright protection.
- Strengthening supervision and inspection of copyright protection in the scientific research process. If violations are detected, disciplinary measures and strict handling must be taken to create educational awareness for students.
- In addition to ensuring copyright, it is necessary to strengthen training and support for students in scientific writing skills to help them avoid copyright-related violations.
Above is the article “Copyright protection for scientific works at higher education institutions” that VCD sends to you. We hope this article is useful to you.
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