In the field of copyright, cooperation between multiple authors in creating a work is not uncommon. However, the relationship between co-authors and co-owners of copyright is complicated and not always clear. So in specific cases where there are co-authors but not co-owners of copyright, how to register copyright. Please follow the article of VCD below.
1. Concept of co-authors, co-owners of copyright?
According to the provisions of the Law on Intellectual Property, the author is the person who directly creates the work. In the case where two or more people directly create the work with the intention that their contributions are combined into a complete whole, those people are co-authors.
Pursuant to Article 18 of Decree 17/2023, copyright owners include:
- Vietnamese organizations and individuals.
- Foreign organizations and individuals whose works are created and expressed in a certain material form in Vietnam.
- Foreign organizations and individuals whose works are published for the first time in Vietnam.
- Foreign organizations and individuals whose works are protected in Vietnam under international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.
Therefore, co-owners of copyright are two or more individuals or organizations that satisfy the above conditions and have joint ownership of the work.
2. Cases where there are co-authors but they are not co-owners.
Case 1: Two or more authors create a work together but only agree or identify one of the co-authors as the copyright owner in a written agreement stating the terms of ownership, profit sharing, etc.
Case 2: Two or more authors create a work together according to the decision/confirmation of assignment of work or task of the company in which the author is an employee of the company, the Certificate will have the names of the co-authors and the copyright owner will be that company.
Case 3: Two or more authors are hired to create a work under a Creative Hire Contract, with a fee or according to the agreement of the parties, the ownership will belong to the individual or company that hired the creation of that work.
Case 4: Two or more authors create a work together and agree to transfer ownership to another individual or organization under a Copyright Transfer Contract.
Co-authors who are not co-owners of the work have inalienable moral rights that are always attached to the author. However, the property rights of co-authors who are not co-owners of the work are limited and always in a “passive” position because the author is not allowed to exercise the right to publish, reprint, display, exhibit or translate, adapt, transform, or transform to obtain economic benefits according to his/her will, except for case 1 mentioned above.
Therefore, co-authors who are not co-owners of copyright shall agree on the exercise of moral rights, and co-owners of copyright shall agree on the exercise of property rights to the work according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 45 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 and Clause 3, Article 47 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 (amended by Clause 13, Article 1 of Law No. 07/2022/QH15).
3. Application for co-authors who are not also co-owners of copyright.
- Application for copyright registration stating clearly the information of co-authors and the role of each author.
- Citizen identification of co-authors
- Copy of business registration certificate if the individual is an organization
- Copy of the work for copyright registration
- Documents proving that you are the copyright owner due to assignment of creative tasks, signing of a creative contract, inheritance, or transfer of rights.
- Power of attorney if the person submitting the application for copyright registration is an authorized person.
- Commitment of co-authors who directly created the work.
Note: Documents must be in Vietnamese; if they are in another language, they must be translated into Vietnamese.
Accordingly, the time limit for granting a certificate of copyright registration is within 15 working days from the date of receipt of a valid application. The competent authority shall be responsible for granting a certificate of copyright registration. If the certificate of copyright registration is refused, the competent authority shall notify the applicant in writing and state the reasons.
Above is the article “Copyright registration in case of co-authors but not co-owners?” that VCD sends to you. We hope this article is useful to you.
Sincerely,
