Intellectual property is of the key areas that countries are actively looking for measures to regulate. Because copyright is strictly territorial, many copyright infringements arise in foreign countries where copyright cannot protect a work. Therefore, people living and residing in foreign countries who work in relation to copyright pay close attention to the laws of that country on copyright. In this article, LSX legal firm informs you: “Copyright involving foreign element in Vietnam”
Legal ground
- Law on Intellectual Property 2005
Copyrights involving foreign elements
Copyright is the right of an organization or individual to literary, artistic, and scientific works created or owned by them.
Copyright in International Private Law means copyright relationships with foreign elements. Foreign factors might appear in one of the following cases:
- At least one party (as an individual or organization, including a state agency) holds foreign nationality or resides and headquarters in another country.
- Subjects protected by copyright are literary, artistic, and scientific works created and first expressed in a foreign territory in a certain material form.
- A legal event takes place as the basis for arising, changing, or terminating a copyright relationship occurs in the territory of another country.
Copyrights in Private International Law
Copyrights in international law are strictly territorial in nature, they arise under the law of a country and only valid within the territory of that country. That means, copyrights arising under Vietnamese law only have validity in the territory of Vietnam. For foreign countries, if they do not join international treaties or accept the principle of reciprocity in copyright protection, copyrights will not get protection. So, people from those countries might translate and publish the works in foreign countries without the consent of the author.
Therefore, if a foreigner resides in Vietnam and gets protection by Vietnamese law for literary, artistic, and scientific works, this right enjoys protection under Vietnamese law and not under the law of the foreigner’s nationality. The Vietnamese government will not apply foreign laws to govern disputes and relations regarding copyrights.
Thus, copyright only arises on the basis of the law of a particular country. National legislation will govern the areas of copyright such as the relations, subjects, conditions of protection, terms of protection of property rights in the work, and other basic contents of copyright.
Copyrights in Vietnamese legislation
Clause 2, Article 1 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 (Law on Intellectual Property Amended and Supplemented in 2009) stipulates:
“Copyright means the rights of organizations, and individuals to works created or owned by them.”
Under Vietnam’s legal system on copyright, authors do not need to register for copyright protection.
Literary, artistic, and scientific works are protected in the Vietnamese territory from the time the authors express them in a certain material form. This means that the author does not need to register the work, but the law still protects his or her work if it exists in physical form and meets the provisions of the law.
Article 13 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 stipulates:
Article 13. Authors and copyright holders with works protected by copyright
Organizations and individuals with works protected by copyright comprise persons who directly create such works and copyright holders stipulated in articles 37 to 42 inclusive of this Law.
Authors and copyright holders stipulated in clause 1 of this article shall comprise 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; foreign organizations and individuals with works protected in Vietnam under an international treaty on copyright of which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.
On the other hand, Article 18 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 defines: “Copyright in works regulated in this Law shall comprise moral rights and economic rights.”
Moral rights and Economic rights of Copyrights
Under the Law on Intellectual Property 2005:
Article 19. Moral rights
Moral rights [of authors] shall comprise the following rights:
1. To give titles to their works.
2. To attach their real names or pseudonyms to their works; to have their real names or pseudonyms acknowledged when their works are published or used.
3. To publish their works or to authorize other persons to publish their works.
4. To protect the integrity of their works; and to forbid other persons to modify, edit or distort their works in whatever form, causing harm to the honor and reputation of the author.
Article 20. Economic rights
1. Economic rights [of authors] shall comprise the following rights:
(a) To make derivative works;
(b) To display their works to the public;
(c) To reproduce their works;
(d) To distribute or import the original or copies of their works;
(dd) To communicate their works to the public by wireless or landline means, electronic information networks, or other technical means;
(e) To lease the original or copies of cinematographic works and computer programs.
2. Authors or copyright holders shall exclusively exercise the rights stipulated in clause 1 of this article or may grant other persons the right to exercise such rights pursuant to the provisions of this Law.
3. When any organization or individual exercises one, several, or all of the rights stipulated in clause 1 of this article and in article 19.3 of this Law, such organization or individual must ask for permission from the copyright holder and must pay royalties, remuneration or other material benefits to the copyright holder.
Types of literary, artistic and scientific works protected by copyrights
Literary, artistic, and scientific works which are protected by copyright comprise:
- Literary works, scientific works, textbooks, teaching courses, and other works expressed in written language or other characters.
- Lectures, addresses, and other speeches.
- Press works.
- Musical works.
- Stage works.
- Cinematographic works and works created by a process analogous to cinematography (hereinafter all referred to as cinematographic works).
- Plastic art works and applied art works.
- Photographic works.
- Architectural works.
- Sketches, plans, maps, and drawings related to topography or scientific works.
- Folklore and folk art works.
- Computer programs and data collections.
Derivative works shall only get protected if such protection not causing damage to the copyright in the works used to create such derivative works.
Besides, protected works must be created personally by authors through their intellectual labor and without copying the works of others.
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This article contains information about “Copyright involving foreign element in Vietnam”. In recent years, we have supplied effective legal advice to businesses and individuals at reasonable prices and with efficient results. We always update and keep our operations and services in line with the law by adhering to legal principles. If you need any further information from the firm’s solicitors, please contact LSX Law firm: +84846175333 or Email: [email protected]
See more
Procedure for copyright registration of foreign company in Vietnam
Copyright registration for foreign companies in Vietnam‘
Acts of copyright infringement by the law in Vietnam
News of the day as mere items of information.
Legal instruments, administrative and other documents in the judicial domain, and official translations of such documents.
Processes, systems, operational methods, concepts, principles and data.
The moral rights stipulated in clauses 1, 2 and 4 of article 19 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 shall be protected for an indefinite term.
Cinematographic works shall have a term of protection of fifty years from the date of first publication.
Conclusion: So the above is Copyright involving foreign element in Vietnam. Hopefully with this article can help you in life, please always follow and read our good articles on the website: lsxlawfirm.com
