1. What is copyright?

Copyright is the right of an organization or individual to a work they create or own (CSPL Clause 2 Article 4 Intellectual Property Law 2005).

According to Article 3 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, copyright includes literary, artistic and scientific works; subjects of rights related to copyright include performances, sound recordings, video recordings, broadcast programs, and satellite signals carrying encrypted programs.

Copyright to one's work includes personal rights and property rights as stipulated in Article 18 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property.

Personal rights are stipulated in Article 19 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, as follows:

Personal rights include the following rights:

1. Name the work;
2. Use real name or pen name on the work; have real name or pen name mentioned when the author is published or used;
3. Publish the work or allow others to publish the work;
4. Protect the integrity of the work, not allowing others to edit, edit or distort the work in any way that harms the honor and reputation of the author.

Property rights are stipulated in Clause 1, Article 20 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, as follows:

1. Property rights include the following rights:

1. Make derivative works;
2. Performing works in public;
3. Copying work;
4. Distribute, import original or copies of works;
5. Communicate the work to the public by wire, wireless, electronic information network or any other technical means;
6. Rental of original or copy of cinematographic works, computer programs

2. Types of works protected by copyright .

Pursuant to the provisions of Clauses 1, 2, 3, Article 14 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, the types of works protected by copyright are as follows:

1. Protected literary, artistic and scientific works include:

1. Literary works, scientific works, textbooks, teaching materials and other works expressed in the form of writing or other characters;
2. Lectures, speeches and other talks;
3. Journalistic work;
4. Musical work;
5. Dramatic work;
6. Cinematographic works and works created by similar methods (hereinafter collectively referred to as cinematographic works);
7. Fine arts and applied arts;
8. Photographic work;
9. Architectural work;
10. Diagrams, plans, maps, drawings related to topography, scientific works;
11. Works of literature and folk art;
12. Computer program, data collection.

2. Derivative works shall only be protected under the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article if they do not prejudice the copyright of the work used to make the derivative work.
3. Works protected under Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article must be directly created by the author through his or her own intellectual labor without copying from another person's product.

3. Objects not covered by copyright protection

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 15 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, the following subjects are not covered by copyright protection:

1. Pure news reporting.
2. Legal documents, administrative documents, other documents in the judicial field and official translations of such documents.
3. Regulation, system, method of operation, concept, principle, figure.

4. Copyright disputes.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 62 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP on copyright disputes, as follows:

1. Disputes between individuals regarding copyright of literary, artistic, scientific works and derivative works.
2. Disputes between co-authors over the division of co-authorship rights
3. Disputes between co-owners of copyright regarding the division of rights of co-owners when exploiting, using, transferring one, some or all of the copyrights
4. Disputes between individuals and organizations regarding copyright ownership of works.
5. Disputes between copyright owners and authors regarding royalties paid to authors who create works based on assigned tasks or co-creations.
6. Disputes over the exercise of personal rights or property rights of authors, copyright owners; co-authors, co-copyright owners.
7. Disputes over copyright of computer programs, data collections between the financial provider and material conditions decisive for the construction and development of computer programs, data collections and the designer, builder of computer programs, data collections.
8. Disputes over copyright of cinematographic works and theatrical works between financial investors and technical facilities for the production of cinematographic works and theatrical works and creative participants and producers of cinematographic works and theatrical works or disputes between them over royalties and other material benefits.
9. Disputes between copyright owners and users of published works without permission or payment of royalties, for reasons that the use conflicts with the normal exploitation of the work and unreasonably causes damage to the legitimate interests of the author or copyright owner.
10. Disputes between copyright owners and users of published works who do not require permission but must pay royalties because the users do not pay royalties or the use conflicts with the normal exploitation of the work and unreasonably causes damage to the legitimate interests of the author or copyright owner.
11. Disputes over copyright assignment contracts, copyright assignment contracts or disputes over author consulting and service contracts.
12. Disputes arising from copyright infringement.
13. Disputes over inheritance, inheritance of property rights as prescribed in Article 20 and personal rights as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 19 of the Law on Intellectual Property.
14. Other disputes over copyright as prescribed by law.

5. Legal solutions

Measures to resolve disputes over intellectual property rights include the following measures:

• Civil measures based on Article 202 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property stipulate the following civil measures:

The Court applies the following civil measures to handle organizations and individuals who infringe upon intellectual property rights:

1. Force to stop the infringement;
2. Forced to apologize and make public correction;
3. Compulsory performance of civil obligations;
4. Forced to pay damages;
5. Compulsory destruction or compulsory distribution or use for non-commercial purposes of goods, raw materials, materials and means used primarily for the production and trading of goods infringing intellectual property rights, provided that this does not affect the ability of the intellectual property right holder to exploit the rights.

• Administrative measures based on Clause 1, Article 2 of Decree 131/2013/ND-CP stipulate the level of fines, as follows:

“The maximum fine in the field of copyright and related rights for individuals is 250,000,000 VND, and for organizations is 500,000,000 VND.”

• Criminal measures based on Clause 1, Article 225 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017, stipulate the Crime of infringing copyright and related rights as follows:

“ Anyone who, without the permission of the copyright or related rights holder, intentionally commits one of the following acts, infringes upon copyright or related rights protected in Vietnam, illegally profits from VND 50,000,000 to under VND 300,000,000 or causes damage to the copyright or related rights holder from VND 100,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000 or infringes goods worth from VND 100,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000, shall be subject to a fine of VND 50,000,000 to VND 300,000,000 or non-custodial reform for up to 03 years.”

This article is for reference only and does not constitute advice. If you need consultation, please contact us via email: info@barrso.com.