Copyright and industrial property rights are two important terms commonly and widely used in the field of Intellectual Property. Copyright is protected from the moment the work is created; industrial property rights require registration by the owner. However, this is just the “tip of the iceberg” because there are still many differences between these two concepts. To clearly distinguish between copyright and industrial property rights, please follow VCD’s article below.
1. Concept of copyright and industrial property rights
According to Clause 2, Article 4 of the Intellectual Property Law, copyright is the right of individuals and organizations to works they create or own. Therefore, copyright is used to protect spiritual creations of a cultural nature (also known as works) from copyright infringement, for example, articles on literary science, creativity, etc. music, recordings, paintings, photographs, films, and radio programs. Copyright is to protect the author’s personal and economic interests in this work.
According to Clause 4, Article 4 of the Intellectual Property Law, industrial property rights are the rights of organizations and individuals to inventions, semiconductor integrated circuit layout designs, industrial designs, trade names, and trademarks. , trade secrets, geographical indications created or owned by oneself, and rights against unfair competition. Industrial property rights are the rights and obligations of subjects related to the use and transfer of industrial property objects. These subjective rights must be by the law in general and the law on industrial property rights in particular; including personal rights and property rights of subjects in the field of industrial property; the right to prevent acts of infringement or unfair competition concerning the rights of creators or legitimate users of such objects.
Therefore, copyright and industrial property rights are two important groups of rights of the Intellectual Property Law and are specified in Part 2 and Part 3 of this Law, respectively.
2. Similarities between copyright and industrial property rights
Based on the two concepts of copyright and industrial property rights, these two rights have a few things in common as follows:
Firstly, these two rights are both regulated and protected by law in the Intellectual Property Law.
Secondly, these two rights both aim to protect the subjects who create or own the work, namely the author and owner who creates or owns the work within the territory of Vietnam.
Thirdly, the above two rights are protected by the State. If there is a violation of either of these rights, it will be considered a violation of the law and may be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal liability.
It can be seen that copyright and industrial property rights are two different categories, but both aim to protect their intellectual rights and belong to the same group of intellectual property rights. An object can be protected by copyright as well as intellectual property rights. For example, for a robot model, in addition to registering for industrial design protection, you can also register for copyright protection with the drawing or writing of the description.
3. The difference between copyright and industrial property rights
3.1. About the subject of copyright protection and the subject of industrial property protection
Subjects of copyright include literary, artistic, and scientific works; Objects of rights related to copyright include performances, sound recordings, video recordings, broadcast programs, and satellite signals carrying encrypted programs. The subject matter of copyright is mainly applied in spiritual entertainment activities.
The objects of industrial property rights are applied in production and commercial business activities. Includes patents, industrial designs, semiconductor integrated circuit layout designs, trade secrets, trademarks, trade names, and geographical indications.
3.2. Regarding copyright protection conditions and industrial property rights protection conditions
According to Clause 1, Article 6 of the current Intellectual Property Law, copyright arises from the moment a work is created and expressed in a certain physical form, regardless of content, quality, or form. , medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered. Copyright law does not regulate the content of protected works.
For industrial property rights: the subject of industrial property rights is protected when it meets the protection conditions prescribed by the Intellectual Property Law. That is, the law on industrial property rights protects the content of objects as follows:
- Invention: has novelty, creativity, and industrial applicability.
- Industrial design: has novelty, creativity, and industrial applicability.
- Trademark: a visible, distinctive sign (Article 72 of the Intellectual Property Law).
- Trade name: Capable of distinguishing between business entities (Article 76 of the Intellectual Property Law).
- Geographical indication: Products bearing geographical indications have geographical origin from the area, locality, territory, or country corresponding to the geographical indication; whose reputation, quality, or characteristics are mainly due to the geographical conditions of that place (Article 79 of the Intellectual Property Law).
- Semiconductor integrated circuit: original and commercial (Article 68 of the Intellectual Property Law)
- Trade secret: Not common knowledge and not easily obtained; When used in business, it will give its owner an advantage; kept confidential by the owner by necessary measures (Article 84 of the Intellectual Property Law).
3.3. Regarding the basis for establishing copyright and the basis for establishing industrial property rights
Copyright is established when the work is created and shaped in a certain physical form; based on the author’s act of creating the work, regardless of any format or procedure.
Industrial property rights are established based on the decision of a competent state agency through the review and issuance of protection titles to the owners of those objects (except for industrial property objects that are identified as industrial property rights). set automatically). As follows:
- Inventions, industrial designs, layout designs, trademarks, and geographical indications: established based on being granted a protection title or recognition of international registration by a competent authority.
- Trade name: legal use.
- Trade secrets: legally obtained and conducted in confidence.
- Famous trademarks: based on use.
3.4. About when copyright arises and when industrial property rights arise
Copyright arises from the moment the work is created and expressed in a certain material form, regardless of content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished. father, registered or unregistered. Copyright arises implicitly and is established from the moment that work is expressed in an objective form that others can perceive.
Industrial property rights arise at different times depending on the object being protected.
3.5. Regarding requirements for protection certificates for copyright and protection certificates for industrial property rights
Copyright is automatically protected, and protection does not depend on registration procedures, so copyright does not require a protection certificate. The protection certificate of copyright-related rights is the copyright registration certificate, related rights registration certificate (issued by the Copyright Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism).
With industrial property rights, registration of industrial property rights is a mandatory procedure. Industrial property rights are only protected by law when they have been officially granted a protection title by a state agency (the Intellectual Property Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology). The protection certificate of industrial property rights for each subject is as follows:
- For inventions: patents
- For industrial designs: industrial design patent
- For geographical indications, trademarks, semiconductor integrated circuit layout designs: certificate of registration of geographical indications, trademarks, semiconductor integrated circuit layout designs.
3.6. Regarding the terms and limits of protection for copyright and the terms and limits of protection for industrial property rights
Copyright is protected for the period specified in Article 27 of the Intellectual Property Law and the protection limit in Article 25 of the Intellectual Property Law.
Industrial property rights are protected in Article 93 of the Intellectual Property Law and protection limits from Article 133 to Article 137 of the Intellectual Property Law.
Above is the article: “Distinguishing between copyright and industrial property rights”. Hope this article will help you.
