In recent years, acts of copyright infringement have occurred frequently, seriously affecting the rights and interests of authors and copyright owners (hereinafter referred to as “copyright owners“). Therefore, “what to do when a work is infringed” has become one of the most concerned topics for authors and creators. In this article, we will focus on clarifying the measures that can be applied to handle acts of copyright infringement.
1. Acts of copyright infringement
Acts of copyright infringement specified in Article 28 of the Intellectual Property Law (“IP Law”) include the following acts:
- Infringement of the moral rights and property rights of authors and copyright owners.
- Failure to perform or fully perform the duties specified in Section 25, 25 (a) and 26 of the IP Law.
- Deliberately destroying or de-activating the effective technological measures implemented by the copyright owner to protect the copyright in his or her work in order to commit the acts specified in Article 28 and Article 35 of the IP Law.
- Producing, distributing, importing, offering, selling, promoting, advertising, marketing, leasing, or storing a device, product or component for commercial purposes; introducing or providing services knowing or having reason to know that the equipment, product or component is manufactured or used for deactivation of an effective technological measure for protection of copyright.
- Deliberate deletion, removal or change of Right management information (“RMI”) without consent of the author, copyright owner knowing or having reason to know that such act will encourage, facilitate or conceal copyright infringement as prescribed by law.
- Deliberately distributing, importing for distribution, broadcasting, communicating or publicly providing copies of works knowing or having reason to know that RMI has been deleted, removed or changed without consent of the copyright owner; knowing or having reasons to know that such act will encourage, facilitate or conceal copyright infringement as prescribed by law.
- Failure to comply with or fully comply with regulations in order to be exempt from legal liability of intermediary service providers prescribed in Clause 3 Article 198b of the IP Law.
2. Measures applied to handle acts of copyright infringement
- Self-protection measures, negotiation
Since the creation of a work, the copyright owners should apply technological measures to protect their rights, provide rights management information, or apply other technological measures to prevent copyright infringement. Technological measures applied may include access control or usage control.
In particular, copyright owners should register their copyright with the Copyright Office. Registration will provide the owner with evidence to prove their ownership of the work. In case of a dispute, the Copyright Registration Certificate will be an important basis for determining the ownership of the work. Organizations and individuals that have been granted a Copyright Registration Certificate are not obliged to prove their ownership in case of a dispute, except where there is evidence to the contrary.
When discovering that their work has been infringed, first of all, the copyright owners should negotiate with the individual or organization that committed the infringement. Copyright owners can send warning documents, request that the infringing party ceases the infringing activity, remove and delete infringing content on the telecommunications network and the Internet, public apology and rectification, payment of damages for loss.
If negotiation with the infringing party is not possible, the copyright owner can apply more severe measures. The copyright owner can apply administrative or criminal measures by requesting competent authorities to handle copyright infringement or apply civil measures by filing a lawsuit with a Court or Arbitration to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
- Civil remedies
When filing a lawsuit at a Court or Arbitration, the copyright owner may request the following measures to handle the infringer:
– Compulsory termination of the infringing acts;
– Compulsory public apology and rectification;
– Compulsory performance of civil obligations;
– Compulsory payment of damages for loss;
– Compulsory destruction, distribution or use for non-commercial purposes of goods, raw materials and materials, and facilities used principally for the production or trading of goods which infringed the copyright, provided that such destruction, distribution or use will not affect the owner’s ability to exploit the copyright.
- Administrative measures
Infringing copyright is subject to administrative sanctions under Decree No. 131/2013/ND-CP on administrative sanctions for copyright and related rights violations, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 28/2017/ND-CP and Decree No. 129/2021/ND-CP (collectively referred to as “Decree 131”).
Copyright owners should study Decree 131 and determine the form of sanction for the infringing act and the competent authority to impose the sanction. From there, the copyright owner can submit a request for handling violations and proofs to the right competent agency for settlement.
- Criminal measures
The copyright owner may exercise the right to denounce crimes against individuals or commercial legal entities that infringe copyright. Individuals and commercial legal entities that commit acts of copyright infringement with sufficient elements to constitute a crime shall be prosecuted for criminal liability according to Article 225 of the 2015 Criminal Code, as amended and supplemented in 2017, providing for the crime of infringing copyright and related rights. However, when exercising the right to denounce a crime, the copyright owner should thoroughly study the law’s provisions and prepare sufficient evidence proving the act of infringing the copyright. False denunciations will be subject to disciplinary action, administrative sanctions, or criminal liability according to the law’s regulations, depending on the nature and extent of the violation.
3. Legal services to support copyright protection of Vietnam Copyright Development Joint Stock Company
With a team of experienced legal experts, VCD confidently supports Clients in handling issues related to copyright protection. With the principle of always protecting the legal rights and interests of Clients, VCD strives to provide the most prompt and effective support and implementation of work, regularly reporting the progress as well as providing the next action plan so that Clients can easily monitor and evaluate the work results. Clients can completely trust our legal services to protect the copyright.
Above is the article “Measures to handle acts of copyright infringement“. We hope this article is useful to you.
