Notes for copyright registration application from 2023

Circular 08/2023/TT-BVHTTDL issued on June 2, 2023, stipulates new forms for registration of copyright and related rights to satisfy the update of relevant regulations amended and supplemented in Decree 17/2023/ND-CP and the Intellectual Property Law amended in 2022. In the following article, Viet An Luat will summarize some notes for copyright registration application from 2023 in Vietnam.

Legal basis

• Law on Intellectual Property 2005, as amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019, 2022.
• Decree 17/2023/ND-CP guiding the Intellectual Property Law on copyright and related rights.
• Circular 08/2023/TT-BVHTTDL regulates forms for registration of copyright and related rights.

The basic layout of Circular 08/2023/TT-BVHTTDL

In addition to the legal basis, scope of regulation, and subjects of application, the basic content of the circular includes:

• 08 copyright registration declaration forms for each type are specified in Article 14 of the Intellectual Property Law.
• Related rights registration declaration form.
• Sample Certificate of registration of copyright and related rights.

Specifically, declaration forms will include:

Determine the type of work

Identifying the type of registered work is the basis for the applicant to choose the correct corresponding Application form in the appendix of Circular 08/2023/TT-BVHTTDL.

For example:

• For computer programs falling under Article 22.1 of the Intellectual Property Law, Form No. 03 must be selected.
• For data collection under Article 22.2 of the Intellectual Property Law, Form No. 01 must be selected.
• For literary and folk artworks under Article 23.1 of the Intellectual Property Law, Article 6.12 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, Form No. 01 must be selected. Works in this category include:
  • Stories, poems, puzzles;
  • Singing and musical melodies;
  • Dances, plays, rituals, and games in performing arts such as cheo, tuong, cai luong, puppetry, songs, folk songs, musical melodies, dances, folk dance, pay, folk games, folk festivals, village festivals, and other forms of folk rituals;
  • Graphic arts products, paintings, sculptures, musical instruments, architectural models, and other forms of art expressed in any material form.

Language and Form of Application

• The declaration must be made in Vietnamese.
• In case it is made in another language, it must be translated into Vietnamese (notarized or consular legalized);
• Must be typed or printed with indelible ink, clear, clean, without erasure or correction;
• In case there are insignificant spelling errors in the document, the applicant can correct the letters and sign the corrected areas (with a seal, if any) according to Article 38.7 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP.

Form of publication of works

The information about the work always comes with the identification of the publication of the work by the author and owner of the work. In this information section, the applicant needs to write down the exact form of copy distribution for dissemination to the public, such as publishing, recording, video recording, printing, posting on telecommunications networks, the Internet, and other form.

It should be noted here that publication pertains to the act of making copies of a work in electronic or physical form, as opposed to making the original available to a limited number of others.

The main content of the work

In this section, the applicant needs to summarize the main content of the work, clearly stating the number of sections and pages of literary and scientific works, lectures, speeches, and other talks, data collections, journalistic works, literary works, folk art and other works expressed in the form of writing or other characters.

• For comics, the summary description follows the following elements: main content; the composition, lines, colors, and shapes of the painting;
• For scripts, briefly describe the elements that make up a complete script (setting, characters, dialogue/narration, action, time/duration…);
• For cultural, literary, artistic, and scientific research projects, clearly describe which individual or organization this research project was established by, the objectives of the research project…;
• For lectures, clearly state for whom the lecture is included in teaching activities;
• For data collection, clearly state which data collection is applied, and included in which computer program or activity;
• For journalistic works, clearly state the type of journalistic work and which press product it is published in;
• For literary and folk artworks, clearly state the type as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 23 of the Intellectual Property Law and Clause 12, Article 6 of Decree No. 17/2023/ND-CP

Author and owner information

Fully declare all co-authors (if any) and clearly state the role of each co-author in creating the work; In case the author has died, clearly state the year the author died in this section.

For copyright owners, the applicant needs to fully declare all co-owners of copyright, if any. The same applies to derivative works, declaration of re-issuance, and renewal of Certificates.

Signature

• The declaration is signed or fingerprinted by the author or owner of the copyright (related rights), except in cases where there is no physical ability to sign or fingerprint (Article 50.2(a) of the Law on Intellectual Property).
• The authorized party does not sign the Application, information about the authorized party is shown in Section 6 of the Application.
• In case of registration for the author who is not also the copyright owner: the author is the person who signs on the Application.
• In case of registration for the copyright owner, the copyright owner or the copyright owner’s legal representative is the person who signs and stamps (in the case of an organization) the Application.
• In case the work has co-authors/co-copyright owners: there must be signatures of all co-authors/co-copyright owners.
• The declaration can be signed by one of the co-authors/co-copyright owners if there is written authorization from the remaining co-authors/co-copyright owners according to the provisions of the law.

Instructions section at the end of each Application

Authorized to submit the Copyright Registration Application for another subject

• In case of individuals: initial each page of the Application
• In the case of organizations: affixed seal on the declaration

Commitment to the creation of the work: must demonstrate the originality of the work and ensure that the work does not contain content that does not have the right to be registered.

• The instructions state the Commitment: “The content of the work is created by the author/co-author, is not copied from the works of others, and does not violate the provisions of Vietnamese law.”
• For works containing content related to sovereignty, territory, national borders, history, religion, beliefs, fine customs, health, honor, prestige, rights, and legitimate interests laws of other organizations and individuals; interests of the State and public interests, it must guarantee: “There is no content or image that violates, does not distort, does not affect sovereignty, territory, national borders, history, religion, beliefs, customs, health, honor, reputation, rights and legitimate interests of other organizations and individuals; interests of the State and public interests”.

Copyright registration service of Viet An Law Firm

• Legal advice on procedures and conditions for copyright registration of works, advice on determining the type of work that needs to be registered for the author and owner of the work.
• Drafting copyright registration documents and submitting them to competent state agencies;
• Copyright registration representative for customers during the copyright registration process;
• Monitor the registration and application processing process at the Copyright Office;
• Exchange and provide information to customers during the copyright registration process.
• Consulting on arising legal issues and disputes related to copyright.

The above article contains some notes for copyright registration application from 2023. If you need to register the copyright, please contact Viet An Law Firm for the best support.