According to the Intellectual Property Law, copyright is the right of an organization or individual to a work created or owned by them. Copyright is recognized for literary, artistic and scientific works such as books, lectures, musical works, theater works, cinematographic works, etc. Copyright automatically forms from the moment works fixed in a certain physical form, regardless of whether the work is published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
Related rights are the rights of organizations and individuals to encrypted performances, phonograms, video recordings, broadcasts, and program-carrying satellite signals.
Although copyright registration is not required, if an individual or organization is an author who has registered copyright/related rights with the Copyright Office – literature and art will bring a lot of benefits. favorable in the event of a dispute.
Legal basis
Law on Intellectual Property 2005, revised in 2009, 2019, 2022 and guiding documents.
What is copyright registration service ?
Copyright registration service means that the author and owner of a work authorize an intellectual property representative organization such as Viet An Law to represent them to register copyright with the Copyright Office to issue copyright certificates for their works in accordance with the law.
The owner has the right to register copyright
Pursuant to Article 13 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, authors and owners have the right to copyright protection including:
- Organizations and individuals whose works are protected by copyright include the person who directly creates the product and the owner of the copyright;
- The above authors and copyright holders include Vietnamese organizations and individuals; a foreign organization or individual whose work is published for the first time in Vietnam but has not been published in any other country or is simultaneously published in Vietnam within 30 days from the date on which the work is published for the first time in another country; foreign organizations and individuals whose works are protected in Vietnam under international treaties on copyright to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory.
Note: The author is the person who directly created the work. Where two or more people directly co-create the work with the intention that their contributions are combined into a complete whole, those persons are co-authors.
Who has the right to apply for copyright?
According to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law, the author or the owner of the work can be an individual, a domestic legal entity or a foreign individual or legal entity, has the right to apply for copyright registration for the work at the Copyright Office.
When filing an individual registration application, a domestic legal entity may directly or authorize a copyright representative organization to file a registration application on its behalf with the registration agency.
Foreign individuals and legal entities who want to register copyright in Vietnam will not be able to directly file an application, but must authorize a copyright representative organization to file an application for a work in Vietnam.
Types of copyright registered
Pursuant to Article 14 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, as amended in Article 1.5 of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2009 Intellectual Property Law, specifically guided in Articles 6 and 7 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP details a number of articles and measures to enforce the intellectual property law on copyright and related rights, types of works protected by copyright include:
- Literary and scientific works, textbooks, textbooks and other works expressed in writing or other characters such as:
- Literary, scientific and other works expressed in written form include: Novels, medium stories, short stories; autographs, memoirs, essays, memoirs; poetry, poetry; script; cultural, literary, artistic, scientific and other research works;
- Textbooks are published works that specify the requirements of the general education program; approved by the Minister of Education and Training and allowed to be used as official teaching materials in general education institutions;
- Textbook means the main teaching, learning and research documents with contents suitable to the training and retraining program approved, selected or approved by the head of the higher education institution or vocational education institution. competent state management agencies to approve according to the provisions of law;
- Works in the form of other characters are works presented in Braille for the visually impaired, shorthand symbols and similar symbols instead of written words that can be understood and copied by accessible individuals or organizations. obtained in a variety of ways.
- Lectures, speeches and other speeches are works expressed in spoken language and must be fixed in a certain material form.
- A journalistic work is a work with independent content and complete structure, including the following genres: reportage, snapshot, report, interview, reflection, investigation, commentary, editorial, treatise, press signing and other types of press for publication or distribution in print, audio, video, electronic or other media.
- A musical work is a work expressed in musical notes or other musical characters regardless of performance or non-performance.
- Theatrical work is a work of the performing arts, including: Cheo, tuong, cai luong, dance, puppetry, contemporary dance, ballet, drama, opera, folk drama, physical drama, musical theatre, circus, comedy, vaudeville and other performing arts.
- Cinematographic work means a work whose content is expressed by continuous animation or images created by technical and technological devices; with or without sound and other effects according to the principles of cinematic language. Un-moved image taken from a cinematographic work that is part of that cinematographic work.
- Cinematographic works do not include video recordings for the purpose of disseminating news on radio, television and cyberspace services; art shows, video games; a video recording of the activity of one or more people, depicting actual events, situations or programmes.
- A work of art is a work represented by lines, colors, shapes and layouts, including:
- Painting: Lacquer painting, oil painting, silk, gouache, watercolor, dó paper and other materials;
- Graphics: Wood carving, metal engraving, rubber engraving, plaster engraving, monolithic printing, stone printing, mesh printing, posters, graphic design and other materials;
- Sculpture: Statues, monuments, reliefs, monuments, symbol blocks;
- Installation and other contemporary art forms.
- Paintings, sculptures, installations and other contemporary art forms exist as originals. Graphic works can be displayed up to the 50th edition, numbered and signed by the author.
- A work of applied art is a work represented by lines, colors, shapes, and layouts with useful features, which may be attached to a useful object, produced manually or industrially, including including: Graphic design (expression of logos, product identifiers and packaging; representation of characters); fashion designer; artistic design associated with product shaping; interior design, interior decoration, exterior art. Works of applied art presented in the form of artistic product poses, cannot be created easily for people with average knowledge in the respective field, and do not include external posing of the product is required to perform the function of the product.
- A photographic work is a work that presents an image of the objective world on a light-absorbing material or on the medium on which the image is produced, or may be produced by chemical, electronic or technical methods. Photographic work may or may not be captioned.
- Architectural works are works of the type of architecture, including:
- Architectural design drawings of works or combinations of works, interiors or landscapes;
- Structures.
- Maps, diagrams, maps, drawings including graphics, diagrams, maps, drawings related to topography, types of scientific and architectural works.
- Literary and folk art works include:
- Literary and folk art works are verbal art forms;
- Literary and folk art works are performing arts such as Chèo, tuồng, cải lương, puppetry, singing, folk songs, and music tunes; dances, folk dances, plays, folk games, folk festivals, village festivals, and other forms of folk rituals.
Regulations on registration of Derivative Works
Derivative work is a work created on the basis of one or more existing works, including:
- A translated work is a work expressed in a language different from the language of the translated work.
- An adaptation is a work that imitates the content of the adapted work, which may be transferred from one genre to another or modified within the same genre, including altering the composition of the work to make the work suitable for different conditions of exploitation and use.
- Compilation works are works composed of part or all of existing works on certain topics and may have comments and evaluations.
- Annotated work is a work created by clarifying the meaning and content of certain words, sentences or events, historical stories, and places mentioned in the annotated work.
- Selected works are works selected from the existing works of one or more authors according to a certain time or topic, including anthologies and anthologies.
- Adapted work means a work that has been re-composed, rewritten, re-edited or altered in a different form of expression from the work used for adaptation according to certain purposes and requirements in a particular case.
- Adapted work is a work that has been transformed from one form into another or a work represented by artistic means different from the work adapted in the same form.
- In addition, the above works must be directly created by the author with his own intellectual labor, without copying from the works of others.
Objects not covered by copyright protection
Pursuant to Article 8 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to enforce the intellectual property law on copyright and related rights:
- Pure news reporting is the daily short press information, breaking news, facts data, for reporting purposes only, not for creativity.
- Administrative documents include documents of state agencies, political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations and units of the people’s armed forces.
- Processes, systems, operational methods, concepts, principles, and data are construed as follows:
- Procedure is the order to follow in order to do work;
- A system is a collection of many elements and units of the same type or function, which are closely related or related to each other, forming a unified whole;
- Method is a way of studying and recognizing phenomena of nature and social life;
- Concept is a thought that reflects in a general form the things and phenomena of reality and the relationships between them;
- Principles are fundamental laws of general nature that govern a wide range of phenomena, are important initial ideas or theories, and are considered as starting points for the formulation of other theories.
Term of copyright protection and copyright-related rights
Pursuant to Article 27 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, amendments and supplements to Clause 8, Article 1 of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2009 Intellectual Property Law:
- Moral rights of the author: The right to name the work; The right to have real or pseudonymous names on the work; be given a real name or a pseudonym when the work is published or used; The right to protect the integrity of the work, to prevent others from modifying, mutilating or otherwise distorting the work in any way that is prejudicial to the honor and reputation of the author is protected indefinitely.
- The right to publish a work or to permit others to publish the work and property rights are provided for the following term of protection:
- Cinematographic works, photographic works, applied arts, anonymous works have a term of protection of seventy-five years from the time the work is first published; for cinematographic, photographic or applied art works that have not been published within twenty-five years from the time the work is fixed, the term of protection is one hundred years from the time the work is published. shape; for anonymous works, when information about the author appears, the term of protection shall be calculated according to the provisions below;
- Works that do not fall into the category specified above have a term of protection for the entire life of the author and for 50 years following the year of the author’s death; in the case of a work with co-authors, the term of protection shall terminate in the fiftieth year after the year of death of the last co-author;
- The term of protection specified above shall end at 24 o’clock on December 31 of the year in which the term of copyright protection is terminated.
What are the benefits of copyright registration?
- Copyright registration is also known as copyright protection, the purpose is to insure the creators of the work against acts of unauthorized use of the work such as: theft, copying, abuse use the work.
- In the event of a dispute, a Copyright Registration Certificate is the best proof of the author’s ownership of the work.
- If the author discovers that an unauthorized user of his work is being made, the author may request that user to discontinue use and may seek compensation for damages. This is only possible when the author has registered the copyright.
- A certificate of copyright is a document proving ownership of a work, used when valuing a company’s assets in the case of equitization, acquisition, or merger.
Therefore, copyright registration is an important way to protect the rights of the author and ensure that the work is used properly.
Dossier for registration of copyright
To register copyright, the author needs to prepare the following documents and records:
- Declaration of copyright registration (according to the corresponding form in Circular 08/2023/TT-BVHTTDL dated June 2, 2023 Circular stipulating forms in copyright and related rights registration activities).
- The declaration must be made in Vietnamese and signed by the author, the copyright owner, the related right holder or the person authorized to submit the dossier. The declaration must contain complete information about the applicant, the author, the copyright owner or the related rights holder. The declaration should contain a summary of the work, performance, sound recording, video recording or broadcast; the name of the author, the work used as a derivative work if the work is registered as a derivative work; time, place and form of publication; commitment to responsibility for the information stated in the application.
- Two copies of copyrighted work:
- 01 copy is kept at the Copyright Office. 01 copy stamped with the registration certificate number shall be returned to the holder of the Certificate.
- For works with particular characteristics such as paintings, statues, monuments, reliefs, monumental paintings associated with architectural works; works that are too large and bulky, the registered copy of the work is replaced by a three-dimensional photograph.
+ For written works: 02 volumes on A4 paper with page numbers and author’s signature on each page or company stamp;
+ With computer program: 02 copies of source code + software interface on A4 paper + 02 CDs with source code content and interface on it;
+ For works of applied art: 02 copies printed on A4 paper with the signature or seal of the author or owner of the work;
+ For musical works: 02 printed copies of music + lyrics or sound recording (recorded) in case it has been recorded;
+ For architectural works: 02 drawings on A3 paper
- Power of attorney or authorization contract, if the applicant is an authorized person, a form prepared or provided by Law Viet An; In case the authorizing party is an individual, the power of attorney must be certified according to the provisions of law.
- Documents proving the right to apply;
- Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors;
- Written consent of the co-owners, if the copyright is jointly owned.
- Notarized identity card of the author or owner of the work;
- Notarized copy of the company’s enterprise registration certificate (if the owner is a company).
All documents submitted with the copyright registration application must be made in Vietnamese. In case they are made in a foreign language, they must be translated into Vietnamese and notarized/certified. The documents enclosed with the dossiers, if they are copies, must be notarized or authenticated.
In case you use the services of Viet An Law, we will prepare and draft all necessary documents and documents to register copyright.
Procedure for copyright registration in Vietnam
Procedures for copyright registration are carried out according to the following steps:
Step 1: Determine the type of work to be registered
After completing the work, the owner, the author determines the type of work intended to be copyrighted.
Step 2: Prepare documents for copyright registration
After determining the type of work intended for copyright registration, the owner and author of the work proceed to compile a copyright registration dossier according to regulations.
Step 3: Drafting Copyright Registration Dossiers
The content of the application to be prepared is as introduced above.
Step 4: Submit application for copyright registration
Submit directly to the Copyright Office at the following addresses:
- Copyright Office: No. 33 Alley 294/2 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, City. Hanoi.
- Representative office in the city. Ho Chi Minh: No. 170 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Ward 6, District 3, City. Ho Chi Minh.
- Representative office in the city. Da Nang: No. 58 Phan Chu Trinh, Hai Chau District, Da Nang City.
Submit by post to the following addresses: Copyright Office: No. 33 Alley 294/2 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, City. Hanoi.
Online submission: Online public service portal: http://dichvucong.gov.vn/
Step 5: The Copyright Office appraises and issues the Certificate
- Within 30 working days from the date of receipt of the submitted dossier and duly accepted by the Copyright Office, the Copyright Office shall grant a copyright registration certificate to the applicant. In case the dossier is missing or has errors that need to be adjusted, the Copyright Office will notify you
- In case of refusal, the Copyright Office must notify in writing the applicant.
- Organizations and individuals have a maximum time of 01 month from the date of receipt of the notice to amend and supplement the dossier, except in case of force majeure events or objective obstacles as prescribed by law. If the organization or individual fails to amend or supplement the dossier, or has modified or supplemented the dossier, the dossier is still invalid, the competent state agency shall return the dossier to the organization or individual;
How to apply for copyright registration?
- Authors, copyright holders and related rights holders can directly apply for copyright registration.
- Through the Intellectual Property Representative Organization, apply for copyright registration.
Difficulties in the process of copyright protection in practice
In our country, the issue of copyright protection in general is still very weak. The assessment to issue a copyright registration certificate is carried out on the basis of the commitment of the author of that logo, there is no synchronous system to manage and look up the possibility of a registered logo being copied version of another logo or not, especially in cases where the creator of the logo has not yet published the work.
The registration of copyright protection is not a mandatory procedure to enjoy copyright and it is not the basis for establishing copyright; Copyrighted or unregistered works enjoy the same protection.
The established copyright is not absolute, so the stage of enforcement and protection of rights has not been thorough. The problem of copying logos is complicated, it is difficult to prove how and to what extent is copyright infringement.
In addition, applied art works can be protected in the form of trademark registration
This is currently the strongest legal protection procedure to guarantee the ownership of logos (applied artworks). Trademark registration protection content: protects both textual content and image content (if the logo includes words), against the use of confusingly similar logos even though they are not 100% identical. Trademarks have strict regulations on overlapping and confusing cases to assess the level of violation when being copied and used without permission.
