Can foreigners register their works in Vietnam ?

Hi DMS Law firm in Vietnam! I am an expat in Vietnam. I have created an art work and want to register for copyright in Vietnam. Can foreigners register their works in Vietnam ? Can works of foreign individuals be protected in Vietnam ? Can you advise me about copyright of foreign individuals that have their own works first published in Vietnam ? Thank you!

Hi! 

Foreigners can register for copyright of their own works in Vietnam if they fall into the scope provided in the Law on Intellectual Property, as follows:

Subject matters of copyright

Subject matters of copyright include literary, artistic and scientific works.

A work means a creation of the mind in the literary, artistic or scientific domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression (Clause 1 Article 3, Clause 7 Article 4 Law on Intellectual Property No. 07/VBHN-VPQH dated 25 June 2019).

Copyright

Copyright means rights of organizations and individuals to works they have created or own.

Copyright shall arise at the moment when a work is created and is expressed in a certain material form, irrespective of its content, quality, presentation, means, language and whether or not it has been published or registered.

Copyright to works provided for in this Law consists of personal rights and property rights.

Personal rights of authors include the following rights: to title their works; to attach their real names or pen names to their works; to have their real names or pen names acknowledged when their works are published or used; to publish their works or authorize other persons to publish their works; to protect the integrity of their works, and to prevent other persons from modifying, mutilating or distorting their works in whatever form prejudicial to their honor and reputation.

Property rights of authors include the following rights: to make derivative works; to display their works to the public; to reproduce their works; to distribute or import original works or copies thereof; to communicate their works to the public by wire or wireless means, electronic information networks or any other technical means; to lease original cinematographic works and computer programs or copies thereof.

The rights specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall be exclusively exercised by authors or copyright holders, or granted by authors or copyright holders to other persons for exercise under the provisions of this Law.

Organizations and individuals, when exercising one, several or all of the rights specified in Clause 1, this Article and Clause 3, Article 19 of this Law, shall have to ask for permission of and pay royalties, remunerations and other material benefits to copyright holders (Clause 2 Article 4, Clause 1 Article 6 Articles 18, 19 and 20 Law on Intellectual Property No. 07/VBHN-VPQH dated 25 June 2019).

Authors and copyright holders that have works covered by copyright

Organizations and individuals that have works covered by copyright include persons who personally create such works and copyright holders defined in Articles 37 through 42 of this Law.

Authors and copyright holders defined in Clause 1 of this Article include Vietnamese organizations and individuals; foreign organizations and individuals that have works first published in Vietnam and not yet published in any other country, or simultaneously published in Vietnam within thirty days after its first publication in another country; foreign organizations and individuals that have works protected in Vietnam under international conventions on copyright to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party (Article 13 Law on Intellectual Property No. 07/VBHN-VPQH dated 25 June 2019).

Copyright holders and Copyright holders being authors

Copyright holders mean organizations and individuals that hold one, several or all the property rights specified in Article 20 of this Law.

Authors who use their own time, finance and material-technical foundations to create works shall have the personal rights specified in Article 19 and the property rights specified in Article 20 of this Law (Articles 36, 37 Law on Intellectual Property No. 07/VBHN-VPQH dated 25 June 2019).

Related topics:

Conditions for inventions to be patentable in Vietnam

Bases for establishment of industrial property rights in Vietnam

Consulting services:

Phone: 0914 165 703 or Email: dmslawfirm@gmail.com

Can I register for copyright in Vietnam ?