Copyright registration is the process where the owner of a work, the creator or author, carries out legal procedures to submit a registration application for their created work. In the following article, LawPlus will analyze the reasons why customers should understand and undertake the registration process for their creative products.
Table of Contents/Mục lục
1. What is Copyright Registration?
Copyright registration, also known as author’s rights registration, is understood as an administrative procedure conducted by the author or owner of the work when submitting documentation to the registration authority to record intellectual property rights for the registered work. When the Copyright Office issues a Certificate of Copyright Registration, the author/owner of the work will have the exclusive right to use the registered work within the territory of Vietnam.
2. Is Copyright Registration for a work mandatory?
According to Article 6 (1) of the Intellectual Property Law Amendment 2022, this is not a mandatory procedure. Immediately after completing the work and the work is expressed in a certain form, the author’s rights will still arise from that moment even if the registration procedure has not been completed. However, when you perform the registration, it will ensure the optimization of your rights, specifically:
Registration will prove who has ownership rights to the work when disputes arise. Through copyright registration, you will be issued a Certificate – the most important document to prove that you are the author of the work.
Being recognized and protected by the state for copyright in the work. This means declaring legal ownership rights to the work, avoiding unauthorized profit-making activities.
The author/owner of the work can personally or request competent agencies to take measures against unauthorized use of the work. For example, copying, abusing the work, without your consent.
3. How does the registration procedure take place?
The process of the steps is as follows:
Step 1: Prepare the documentation
- According to Article 50(2) of the Intellectual Property Law, you need to prepare the following documents:
- Copyright registration application form
- Two valid copies of the copyrighted work
- Power of attorney, if the applicant is authorized
- Documents proving the right to file, if the applicant inherits, transfers, or inherits the right from others
- Consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors
- Consent of co-owners, if the copyright belongs to joint ownership
Step 2: Submit the registration application
According to Article 74(1) of Decree 22/2018/ND-CP, the author, the owner of the work can directly or authorize another organization or individual to submit the dossier to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (Copyright Office or the Representative Office of the Copyright Office in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang).
Step 3: Examination and decision-making
Within 15 working days from the date of receiving a valid registration application, the Copyright Office will issue a certificate. In the event of a refusal to issue a certificate, the Copyright Office will notify the applicant in writing.
The above are the information provided by LawPlus. To understand more about this issue, customers can contact through the website, hotline 02862 779 399 / 0965 052 039 / 0966 008 030 (WhatsApp, Viber, Zalo), or email info@lawplus.vn.
