In the digital age, computer programs are not only supporting tools but also creative products of human intelligence. However, copyright protection for these products is facing many challenges due to the ease of copying and distribution. To ensure the rights of developers and promote innovation, copyright enforcement measures are more urgent than ever. The following article from VCD will help you.
1. General overview
Measures to ensure enforcement of intellectual property rights are not only measures to prevent intellectual property infringements from occurring in reality, but also to handle and resolve when there are infringements in order to end the infringement and compensate for damages.
According to Clause 1, Article 22 of the current Intellectual Property Law, the concept is as follows: A computer program is a set of instructions expressed in the form of commands, codes, diagrams or other forms, which, when attached to a device or device operated by a computer programming language, is capable of making the computer or device perform work or achieve specific results. A computer program is protected as a literary work, whether expressed in the form of source code or machine code.
From the above concepts, it can be seen that a computer program is protected as a literary work, but in the process of creation and operation, it is a scientific and technical product. This creates challenges regarding the effectiveness of rights owners in taking actions against acts of copyright infringement against computer programs.
2. Measures to ensure the enforcement of copyright against computer programs.
Measures to apply technology to protect yourself:
Applying technological measures to protect yourself with the aim of minimizing copyright infringement by controlling the way computer programs are used by technical means is considered effective:
Applying technological measures to detect illegal computer program installation. To detect illegal computer program installation, computer programs are set up according to the data of software enterprises with a system to monitor the activities of computer programs by connecting the computer program to the server system, each time a computer program is used illegally, the server will be notified immediately.
Applying technological measures to prevent copyright infringement of computer programs. Copyrighted computer programs are often set up with copyright checking functions such as requiring users to enter a series of numbers (called keys) to authenticate that they are legitimate users when first installed. Users of computer programs must pay the copyright owner of the computer program to obtain these keys.
Civil measures:
The awareness of activities related to copyright of computer programs by users such as end users or businesses is still low. Vietnamese consumers still prefer to use free computer programs downloaded from the internet or find ways to disable technical measures applied by copyright owners of computer programs. Practice shows that many subjects are afraid to file a lawsuit to request the termination of infringement because of the costs involved in collecting evidence to prove the infringement. If the court wins the lawsuit, they will only be refunded the court fees, while in many cases the damage cannot be determined. Therefore, there should be regulations on minimum compensation for damages in cases of copyright infringement where the damage cannot be determined to encourage the right holders to initiate legal proceedings and at the same time serve as a warning to the holders who are intending to infringe copyright.
Criminal measures:
In fact, not only in Vietnam but also in the world, there are very few cases of copyright infringement of computer programs that are criminally prosecuted. Vietnam has not yet handled copyright infringement of computer programs by criminal measures, however, that does not mean that there are no acts that satisfy the criminal elements of copyright infringement of computer programs. Although the nature of the relationship is civil, the economic harm of copyright infringements on computer programs is very large for the owner, so the 2015 Civil Code, revised in 2017, is limited to two groups of acts: copying computer programs and distributing copies of computer programs to the public.
Administrative measures:
Upon discovering an act of infringement, the copyright owner of a computer program will make a recommendation and work directly with the subject suspected of infringement to request that the infringement be terminated. According to Clause 1, Article 211 of the current Law on Intellectual Property, acts of intellectual property infringement are subject to administrative sanctions when organizations and individuals commit one of the following acts of copyright infringement on computer programs: acts causing damage to authors, owners, consumers or society; production, import, transportation, and trading of counterfeit goods on computer programs. The main forms of punishment are warnings and fines. In addition, additional measures are applied to remove copies of computer programs on the means in use and in the network environment.
Above is the article “Measures to ensure enforcement of copyright on computer programs” sent to you by VCD. We hope this article is useful to you.
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