In reality, many works are created directly by individuals, but the ownership belongs to an organization or another entity. This causes many people to wonder when registering copyright: is it mandatory for the author and copyright owner to be the same person? This article by VCD will help you.
Legal Regulations on Authors and Copyright Owners
Vietnamese Intellectual Property Law clearly distinguishes between authors and copyright owners; these are two independent entities with different legal statuses and scopes of rights. According to Clause 2, Article 4 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law (amended and supplemented in 2022), an author is a person who directly creates all or part of a literary, artistic, or scientific work. Authorship is established based on the element of individual creativity, linked to the intellectual labor process, and does not depend on whether the work has been published or registered for protection.
Meanwhile, copyright ownership is understood as the organization or individual holding the property rights to the work. According to Article 37 of the Intellectual Property Law, copyright ownership can be the author himself, or another organization or individual who acquires ownership through legal grounds such as: the work was created as part of an assigned task; under a creative contract; through copyright transfer; through inheritance; or established according to the provisions of law. Thus, the law does not implicitly equate authorship with copyright ownership.
Therefore, it can be seen that the author is a subject associated with personal rights, while the copyright owner is a subject associated with property rights. This distinction is crucial for correctly identifying the subject named in the copyright registration application as well as the scope of protected rights.
Is it mandatory for the author and the copyright owner to be the same entity when registering a copyright?
Current intellectual property law does not require the author and the copyright owner to be the same entity when carrying out copyright registration procedures. In practice, it is common for these two entities to be different, especially in business environments, production and business activities, and professional creative fields.
According to Article 39 of the Intellectual Property Law, for works created under a task assigned by an organization or under a creative contract, the organization or individual assigning the task or signing the contract is the copyright owner, unless the parties agree otherwise. In this case, the individual directly creating the work is still recognized as the author, but the property rights belong to the entity that assigned the task or paid the creative fee. Furthermore, according to Article 45 of the Intellectual Property Law, the author or copyright owner has the right to transfer the property rights to the work to another organization or individual. After the transfer is legally completed, the transferee will become the copyright owner. When registering copyright, the Certificate may record the author as the individual creator, and the owner as the organization or individual receiving the transfer, along with documents proving the basis for establishing the right.
Therefore, when receiving a copyright registration application, the competent state agency will not consider whether the author and the owner are the same, but will focus on evaluating the legality of the basis for establishing ownership rights. As long as the application is complete, valid, and clearly shows the legal relationship between the author and the owner, having different names on the Certificate is entirely in accordance with the law.
Is copyright registration mandatory for a work?
According to Clause 1, Article 6 of the Intellectual Property Law, copyright arises from the moment a work is created and expressed in a certain tangible form, regardless of whether the work has been registered or not. This provision affirms that copyright registration is not a mandatory condition for a work to be protected by law.
However, in practical application of the law, copyright registration is of particular importance. According to Article 49 of the Intellectual Property Law, the Copyright Registration Certificate is legal evidence recording information about the author, owner, and the time of establishment of the right. In case of disputes, the Certificate significantly reduces the burden of proof for the rights holder, while also creating a clear advantage when requesting the competent authority to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
Therefore, although copyright registration is not legally mandated, carrying out this procedure is considered a proactive and necessary legal measure, especially for works with economic value, those that are commercially exploited, or those at risk of copyright infringement.
The above is the article “Is it mandatory for the author and copyright owner to be the same when registering copyright?” that VCD has sent to you. We hope this article is helpful to you.
Sincerely,
No. The law allows the author and the copyright owner to be two different entities, as long as there is a valid legal basis for establishing ownership.
The registration file will record the author as the creator of the work and record another organization or individual as the copyright owner, along with documents proving ownership.