Textbooks are indispensable documents in the learning process. Nowadays, photocopying books is very popular, especially in schools and students choose to use photocopying textbooks to save more money. So, is using photocopied textbooks illegal? Please follow VCD’s article below.
1. What is the photocopied textbook?
According to Wikipedia, the definition of textbook is as follows:
Textbook is the curriculum system of a subject. It is a learning or teaching material designed and compiled based on the subject curriculum. The purpose is to make official teaching materials for teachers or to make official learning materials for students.
Article 6 of Decree 17/2023/ND/CP stipulates the concept that: curriculum is the main teaching, learning, and research document with content consistent with the training and fostering program approved by the head of the institution. Higher education institutions and vocational education institutions approve, select, or are approved by competent state management agencies according to law provisions.
Photo, also known as copying, is the creation of a copy of all or part of a work or audio or video recording by any means or form.
A copy of a work is a direct or indirect copy of all or part of the work by any means or form.
Based on the above concepts, it can be understood that photocopying textbooks is the product of the process of copying the entire original work and printing it into hard copies.
2. Are textbooks protected by copyright?
Works are protected regardless of the content, ideas, and opinions expressed in the work. Therefore, according to the copyright laws of many countries, works with content that is contrary to morality or public order can be protected if they are the result of the author’s spiritual creativity. The Berne Convention is the oldest international copyright convention with the largest number of member states, providing an unlimited list of protected works regardless of form or method. expression.
Based on the Berne Convention, Vietnam stipulates in Clause 7, Article 4 of Vietnam’s Intellectual Property Law: “A work is a creative product in the fields of literature, art, science expressed in any form. any means or form”.
On the other hand, the conditions for protecting works are in Clause 3, Article 14: protected works ”must be directly created by the author using his or her intellectual labor and not copied from another person’s work. ”.
First, the work must be the result of spiritual creative activity. To be protected by copyright, a work must be based on the results of the process of thinking, exploring, creating, and reflecting the thoughts and feelings of the creator. In other words, the work must be based on creative results that contain certain spiritual content of the author.
Second, the work must be presented in a certain form. If creations are just ideas in the author’s head and have not been expressed in a certain form in the physical world, they cannot be considered a work protected by copyright, so the author cannot be considered a work protected by copyright. A work is only protected by copyright when it is expressed in a certain form so that others can recognize and identify the work.
And finally, the work must be original. The original creativity of a work is not synonymous with “newness” in terms of time. The work does not need to have new content or ideas but must be created by the author, bearing its mark to distinguish it. This requires that the work be independently and directly created by the author without copying from others.
According to Point a, Clause 1, Article 14 of the Intellectual Property Law, regulations on types of works protected by copyright include: Literary and scientific works, textbooks, course books and other works expressed in appears as writing or other characters.
Thus, according to the above regulations, textbooks, textbooks, or other specialized research books are classified as works protected by copyright.
3 . Is using photocopied textbooks illegal?
Commercial purpose is behavior intended to generate economic or other benefits. Currently, there are many opinions related to copyright infringement of photo textbooks, depending on the purpose of using photo textbooks to determine whether there is a violation or not. There are 2 cases as follows:
Case 1:
Using photocopied textbooks does not violate copyright if the user complies with the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law on copyright including moral rights and property rights. Article 25 of the Property Law, stipulates exceptional cases that do not infringe copyright, according to which photo textbooks are one form of copying works, so users must satisfy the conditions of use. Published works do not require permission or pay royalties or remunerations in Article 25 of this Law, specifically as follows:
Textbooks are copied for personal learning purposes, not for commercial exploitation. Adapt the textbook into an accessible form for people with disabilities and visual impairments, not for commercial purposes.
In particular, non-commercial purposes means that in cases where the purpose of use is determined to be for profit such as rental, the user will not be entitled to this non-infringement exception. Thus, the act of self-copying a copy for personal scientific research or teaching purposes is not applied for commercial purposes.
Case 2:
Using photocopied textbooks violates copyright if this is the act of copying textbooks for commercial, sale, or profit purposes, will violate the author’s intellectual property rights, and may lead to legal consequences. physical. According to Article 28 of the Intellectual Property Law, acts of copying works without the permission of the author or copyright owner, except for the provisions of Article 25 of this Law stated in case 1, are such acts. considered a violation of copyright.
However, in reality, more and more people are profiteering from photocopying original textbooks to sell and gain profit. This will affect the author’s effort, income and intelligence. Therefore, the fact that universities allow students to abuse too many copies of research documents and textbooks can be considered a form of indirect support in violating the author’s intellectual property rights.
4 . Penalties for copying works
Using photocopied textbooks not for scientific research purposes but for commercial purposes will be subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Article 18 of Decree 131/2013/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions. For acts of infringing the right to copy works, violators, and organizations will be fined twice the fine range for individuals as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 2 of Decree 131/2013. /ND-CP. Accordingly, acts of infringing on the right to copy works will be fined from 15,000,000 VND to 35,000,000 VND for individuals and from 30,000,000 VND to 70,000,000 VND for organizations.
In addition, remedial measures will be applied: forced removal of copies or photocopies of infringing works in electronic form, on the Internet and digital environment, or forced destruction of infringing material evidence here. is a book.
Above is the article: Is using photocopied textbooks illegal? Hope this article will help you.
