AI Copyright Registration Consulting Services in Vietnam

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most prominent and developed technologies today. In the context of AI increasingly developing and widely applied, protecting intellectual property rights for creative products from AI has become a top concern of organisations and individuals, including copyright registration. Below, Viet An Law will present on AI copyright registration consulting in Vietnam.

Copyright Ownership of AI

Article 13 of the Law on Intellectual Property stipulates that copyright subjects include:

“Vietnamese organizations and individuals; foreign organizations and individuals with works published for the first time in Vietnam and not yet published in any other country, or with works also published in Vietnam within thirty days after publication for the first time in another country; and foreign organizations and individuals with works which are protected in Vietnam under an international treaty on copyright of which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member”.

Thus, current law stipulates that only organisations, individuals or people are the subjects that can hold copyright. AI is a product created by human hands, not an organisation or individual and does not have personal rights or property rights as prescribed in the Civil Code 2015, so it is not the subject of copyright.

Although AI is not the subject of copyright, organisations and individuals who create products from AI can register for copyright protection.

AI products can be registered for copyright protection

AI products can be copyrighted if they fall into the categories of creations protected by law, for example:

• Computer programs, data collections: Code, algorithms, source codes or applications written by humans to develop AI systems. Under Point m, Clause 1, Article 14 of the Law on Intellectual Property, computer programs and data collections are one of the types of works protected by copyright.
• Articles, scientific papers, user guides, or documentation describing AI systems.
• Images, music, videos, articles, or other content generated through AI technology.

Basis for establishing copyright on AI

Under Clause 1, Article 6 of the Law on Intellectual Property: “Copyright shall arise at the moment a work is created and fixed in a certain material form, irrespective of its content, quality, form, mode and language and irrespective of whether or not such work has been published or registered”.

Thus, copyright in AI is established regardless of registration but arises from the moment the work is created and expressed in a certain material form.

Copyright registration is not mandatory to establish copyright, but this is a necessary procedure to have a specific basis to determine the scope of copyright, avoiding acts of copyright infringement.

Conditions for registering copyright protection on AI

Copyright is the right of an organisation or individual to a work they create or own. To register for copyright protection for AI, the following conditions must be met:

• Creativity: The work is creative.
• Form of expression: Expressed in a certain material form, regardless of content, quality, form, means, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
• Authors and copyright owners: include Vietnamese organizations and individuals; foreign organizations and individuals with works published for the first time in Vietnam and not yet published in any other country, or with works also published in Vietnam within thirty days after publication for the first time in another country; and foreign organizations and individuals with works which are protected in Vietnam under an international treaty on copyright of which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.
• Type of work: belongs to one of the types of work under Article 14 of the Law on Intellectual Property, not subject to the scope of copyright protection according to Article 15 of the Law on Intellectual Property.

AI copyright registration consulting in Vietnam

The copyright registration procedure is specifically prescribed in Chapter IV of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, including the following steps:

Application for registration of copyright

• Authors, copyright holders, related right holders that are Vietnamese individuals and organisations, foreign individuals residing in Vietnam, foreign organisations placing head offices, representative offices, or branches in Vietnam shall apply for registration of copyright and related rights in person or via legal representatives in Vietnam.
• Authors, copyright holders, and related right holders that are foreign individuals not residing in Vietnam regularly or foreign organisations without head offices, representative offices, or branches in Vietnam shall apply for registration of copyright and related rights on the level 4 online public service portal or by authorising counselling organisations and service providers regarding copyright and related rights in Vietnam.

Receiving agency: Copyright Office – Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Processing of dossiers and issuance of Certificates

• The Copyright Office shall review, classify, and consider the validity of the dossier within 01 month from the date of receipt of the dossier;
• In case the dossier is invalid, the Copyright Office shall notify the organisation or individual to request amendments and supplements to the dossier.
• Organisations and individuals have a maximum period of 01 month from the date of receipt of the notice to amend and supplement the dossier, except in cases of force majeure or objective obstacles as prescribed by law.
• In case the organisation or individual does not modify or supplement the dossier or has modified or supplemented the dossier, but it is still invalid, the competent state agency shall return the dossier to the organisation or individual.
• The Copyright Office shall keep 01 copy of the work registered for copyright; 01 copy of the work registered for copyright is stamped, with the number of the Copyright Registration Certificate recorded, and returned to the organisation or individual to whom it was issued as an attached document inseparable from the Copyright Registration Certificate.

Notes when registering copyright on AI

• Determine the type of work: When registering copyright related to AIproducts in Vietnam, it is necessary to identify the subject of copyright protection, because each type of subject will have different legal regulations.
• Proof of copyright: Organisations and individuals must prove their creative role in the process of creating works using AI.
• AI’s automated work: If AI creates itself without human intervention, copyright registration may be denied, because Vietnamese law does not recognise AI as a copyright subject. If AI is just a tool, it is necessary to provide documents describing the creative process to prove its role.

Copyright Notice for Computer Programs

Under Article 12 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, the author who is also the copyright owner enjoys personal rights and property rights.

• Authors who are not copyright holders shall benefit from moral rights, except for publishing the work or allowing others to publish the work;
• Copyright holders enjoy personal rights to publish their works or to allow others to publish their works and property rights.
• Organisations and individuals who have the right to legally use copies of computer programs are allowed to fix errors in the computer program copies when necessary.
• The right to lease computer programs is the right of copyright holders to exclusively lease or allow other individuals to lease the computer programs for a limited amount of time. The right to lease computer programs does not apply if the computer programs are not the main subject matter of the lease, such as computer programs associated with the normal operation of traffic vehicles or other technical machinery, equipment.

Above is the AI Copyright registration consulting in Vietnam. If you have any questions related to copyright registration procedures, related rights, please contact Viet An Law for the fastest and most accurate support from our lawyers.