The audiobook is a product that is no longer strange to those who love reading because of its different experiences and convenience for users. Instead of buying traditional paper books, or e-books, in recent years, busy readers can choose to listen to audiobooks while doing hands-free tasks. It can be said that audiobooks are moving in a new direction and have the potential for rapid growth and development in the future. So, what do individuals and organizations need to pay attention to make and sell audiobooks without infringing copyright?
1. Audiobook is derivative work
Books contain knowledge, content, and ideas that the author wants to convey to others through writing and text, possibly in paper or electronic form. Books have a wide variety of content and are in many different genres. An audiobook is a form of presenting the content of a book in the form of audio, recorded in an audio recording. The busier modern life is, the fewer time people have to sit and read, therefore, the use of audiobooks is an economical and convenient choice.
The Law on Intellectual Property does not directly regulate books or audiobooks as an object of copyright protection, but stipulates in Article 14, Clause 1, Point A on written works, according to which “Literary, scientific works, textbooks, teaching courses and other works expressed in written languages or other characters” is one of the types of works that are allowed copyright protection.
In addition, according to Article 4, Clause 8 of the Law on Intellectual Property, derivative works are construed as follows:
“Derivative work means a work created on the basis of one or more existing works through translation from one language into another, adaptation, compilation, annotation, selection, arrangement, musical adaptation, and other adaptations.”
From the above grounds, audiobooks are derivative works from original book works. Therefore, if an individual or organization wants to record an audiobook, it must obtain the consent of the author, and the copyright owner of the original book and pay them royalties.
2. Is recording a book and posting it on the internet considered copyright infringement?
The right to make derivative works is one of the property rights of the author or copyright owner specified in Article 20 of the Law on Intellectual Property and the copyright owner is entitled to exclusively exercise or allow other organizations or individuals to exercise this right. Accordingly, organizations and individuals wishing to make derivative works must obtain the permission of the copyright owner and pay royalties and other material benefits (if any) to the copyright owner.
According to Article 28, Clause 2 of the Law on Intellectual Property, the act of doing derivative works without the permission of the author, or copyright owner; or without paying royalties to the author, copyright owners are considered acts of copyright infringement due to such acts infringing on the rights of property under copyright specified in Article 20.
The act of making audiobooks spontaneously and posting them on the internet without asking permission and paying royalties to the author and copyright owner of the book is an act of copyright infringement. It should be clearly understood that not having to buy copyrighted original books means paying royalties to the author and being allowed to record audiobooks to communicate the work to the public. The right to make derivative works or the right to communicate the work to the public are independent rights and must be authorized by the author or copyright owner. The recording of the audiobook shall not be an infringement if the recording:
- a reasonable reproduction of a part of the work by copying equipment and is only used by the individual for the purpose of personal scientific research or study and not for commercial purposes;
- to provide non-commercial assistance to persons with disabilities;
- a fair use copy of a work for illustration in lectures, publications, performances, sound recordings, video recordings, broadcasts for teaching purposes;
- a copy of a reasonable quotation of the work without misleading the author to comment, introduce, or illustrate in author’s work; for writing newspapers, used in periodicals, broadcasts and documentaries.
According to Article 12 of Decree 131/2013/ND-CP, which specifies penalties for administrative breaches of copyright and associated rights, persons who violate the right to produce derivative works shall be dealt with as follows:
“1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of making derivative works without the permission of the copyright owner.
2. Remedies: Forcibly remove copies of infringing works in electronic form, in the network and digital environment for acts specified in Clause 1 of this Article. “
For the above reasons, if individuals and organizations want to use a book to make an audiobook, they must ask permission and pay royalties to the author and copyright owner of that book. Failure to do so may result in administrative penalties according to the above-mentioned fines.
Here is the article “How to use audiobooks so as not to infringe copyright?”. We hope this article was helpful to you.
