Copyright Registration in Vietnam

Any literary work or a song, a website, a product that is created and expressed in physical form is likely to be protected. Therefore, in order to minimize the risk of a work being stolen or copied, copyright registration in Vietnam is really important for the author and owner of the work. And if you are wondering how to register? How to do it, please follow our article below for detailed instructions.

Copyright and copyright-related rights

According to Clause 2, Article 4 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 as amended and supplemented by the Law on Intellectual Property 2009 of Vietnam, Copyright means rights of an organization or individual to works which such organization or individual created or owns.

Copyright arises from the time a work is created and expressed in a certain material form, regardless of content, quality, form, medium, language, published or not, registered or unregistered.

According to Clause 3, Article 4 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 as amended and supplemented by the Law on Intellectual Property 2009 of Vietnam, Copyright related rights (hereinafter referred to as related rights) means rights of an organization or individual to performances, audio, and visual fixation, and broadcasts and satellite signals carrying coded programs.

Related rights arise from when performances, phonograms, video recordings, broadcasts, encrypted program-carrying satellite signals are fixed or performed without prejudice to copyright.

Subjects have the right to register copyright

According to Article 13 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 of Vietnam, authors and copyright holders with works that are protected by copyright include:

– Organizations and individuals with works that are protected by copyright comprise persons who directly create such works and copyright holders.

– Authors and copyright holders shall comprise Vietnamese organizations and individuals; foreign organizations and individuals with works are published for the first time in Vietnam and have not been published in any other country yet, or with works are 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 according to an international treaty on the copyright of which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

Types of works which are protected by copyright

According to Article 14 of the  Law on Intellectual Property 2005 as amended and supplemented by the Law on Intellectual Property 2009 of Vietnam, literary, artistic, and scientific works are protected  include:

– Literary works, scientific works, textbooks, teaching courses, and other works expressed in written language or other characters;

– Lectures, addresses, and other speeches;

– Pressworks;

– Musical works;

– Stage works;

– Cinematographic works and works created by a process analogous to cinematography (hereinafter all referred to as cinematographic works);

– Plastic artworks and applied artworks;

– Photographic works;

– Architectural works;

– Sketches, plans, maps, and drawings related to topography or scientific works;

– Folklore and folk artworks;

– Computer programs and data collections.

Article 14 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 of Vietnam also stipulates protection conditions for derivative works. Specifically, derivative works shall only be protected if such protection is not prejudicial to the copyright in the works used to create such derivative works.

Derivative work means a work translated from one language into another; or an adapted, modified, transformed, compiled annotated, or selected work.

Furthermore, protected works as aforementioned must be created personally by authors through their intellectual labour and without copying the works of others.

Subject matter outside the category of copyright protection

According to Article 15 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 of VietNam, subject matters that are not protected by copyright protection include:

–  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 procedures for copyright registration in Vietnam

According to Article 50 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 of Vietnam, Authors, and copyright holders may directly file, or may authorize other organizations or individuals to file, applications for registration of copyright.

An application for copyright registration in Vietnam shall comprise:

(i) A declaration for registration of copyright in the sample form of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

A declaration must be made in Vietnamese and signed by the author, and copyright holder or person authorized to file the application; and must include complete information on the applicant, author, copyright holder; the summarized content of the work, performance, audio and visual fixation or broadcast; the name of the author, and the title of the work used to make the derivative work if the work to be registered is a derivative work; the date, place and form of publication; and an undertaking accepting liability for the information set out in the application.

(ii) Two copies of the work the subject of the application for copyright registration;

(iii) A letter of authorization where the applicant is an authorized person;

 (iv) Documents proving the right to file the application where the applicant acquires such right by way of inheritance, succession or assignment;

 (v) Written consent of the co-authors in the case of a work under joint authorship;

 (vi)  Written consent of the co-owners if the copyright is jointly owned.

The documents in clauses (iii), (iv), (v), and (vi) as aforesaid must be written in Vietnamese. Documents in a foreign language must be translated into Vietnamese.

Time-limit for granting registered copyright certificates

The State administrative body for copyright shall be responsible to grant a registered copyright certificate to the applicant, or shall notify the applicant in writing in a case of refusal to grant a certificate, within a time-limit of fifteen (15) working days from the date of receipt of a valid application.

Although copyright registration in Vietnam is not required. However, if the author, the owner of the work, registers the copyright with the Copyright Office, it will bring a lot of advantages when there is a dispute. In particular, the registration will be the basis to confirm the time of arising copyright and the rights of the work owner.

Hanoi Head-office

F4 Building No 112 Trung Kinh Street, Yen Hoa Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi City, Vietnam
(84) 2462852839 – Mobile: (84) 981.378999

Email: lienhe@luathoangphi.vn