You will find in this post some excerpts of the Law on Intellectual Property in Vietnam.
We have selected excerpts only as it will be easier to read.
All the cuts are mentionned by this: (…) but you can download the original text here.
LAW ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (No. 50/2005/QH11)
Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was amended and supplemented under Resolution No. 51/2001/QH10 of December 25, 2001, of the Xth National Assembly, the 10th session; This Law provides for intellectual property.
Article 1.- Governing scope
This Law provides for copyright (…) and the protection of these rights.
Article 2.- Subjects of application
This Law applies to Vietnamese organizations and individuals; foreign organizations and individuals (…)
Article 3.- Subject matters of intellectual property rights
1. Subject matters of copyright include (…) artistic (…) works. (…)
Article 4.- Interpretation of terms In this Law, the following terms shall be construed as follows:
1. Intellectual property rights mean rights of organizations and individuals to intellectual assets, including copyright and copyright-related rights (…)
2. Copyright means rights of organizations and individuals to works they have created or own.
3. Copyright-related rights (hereinafter referred to as related rights) mean rights of organizations and individuals to performances, phonograms, video recordings, broadcasts (…) (…) 6. An intellectual property right holder means an owner of intellectual property rights or an organization or individual that is assigned intellectual property rights by the owner.
7. A work means a creation of the mind in the (…) artistic (…) domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression. (…)
9. A published work, (…) means a work, which has been made available to the public with the permission of the copyright holder (…) in a reasonable amount of copies.
10. Reproduction means the making of one or many copies of a work by whatever mode or in whatever form.
11. Broadcasting means the transmission of image of a work to the public in such a way that members of the public may access that work from a place and at a time they themselves select. (…)
Article 6.- Bases for the emergence and establishment of intellectual property rights
1. Copyright shall arise at the moment when a work is created and fixed in a certain material form whether or not it has been published or registered. (…)
COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS CONDITIONS FOR PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT (…)
Article 14.- Types of works covered by copyright 1.Artistic works covered by copyright include:
c/ Press works; (…)
f/ Cinematographic works (…);
g/ Plastic-art works (…);
h/ Photographic works; (…)
CONTENTS OF, LIMITATIONS ON AND TERM OF PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT
Article 18.- Copyright Copyright to works (…) consists of moral rights and economic rights.
Article 19.- Moral rights Moral rights of authors include the following rights:
1. To title 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 authorize other persons to publish their works;
4. 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. (…)
2. The rights shall be exclusively exercised (…) or granted by authors (…) to other persons for exercise.
3. Organizations and individuals, when exercising one or all of the rights specified in this Law, shall have to ask for permission of and pay royalties, remunerations and other material benefits to copyright holders. (…)
Article 24.- Copyright to artistic works (…)
2. Organizations and individuals that use works must neither affect the normal utilization of such works nor cause prejudice to rights of the authors and/or copyright holders; and must indicate the authors’ names, and sources and origins of the works. (…)
Article 27.- Term of copyright protection
a/ (…) photographic works, (…) shall have the term of protection of fifty years as from the date of first publication (…). (…)
Article 28.- Acts of infringing upon copyright
1. Appropriating copyright to (…) artistic (…) works.
2. Impersonating authors.
3. Publishing or distributing works without permission of authors. (…)
5. Modifying, mutilating or distorting works in such a way as prejudicial to the honor and reputation of authors.
6. Reproducing works without permission of authors.
7. Making derivative works without permission of authors.
8. Using works without permission of copyright holders, without paying royalties, remunerations or other material benefits. (…)
COPYRIGHT HOLDERS, RELATED RIGHT HOLDERS
Article 36.
Copyright holders mean organizations and individuals that hold one, several or all the economic rights specified in Article 20 of this Law.
Article 37.
Authors who use their own time, finance and material-technical foundations to create works shall have the moral rights specified in Article 19 and the economic rights specified in Article 20 of this Law. (…)
TRANSFER, ASSIGNMENT AND LICENCING OF COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS
Article 45.
2. Authors must not assign the moral rights except the right of publication (…). (…)
Article 47.
2. Authors must not license the moral rights except the right of publication (…). (…)
Article 48.- Copyright or related right license contracts
1. A copyright contract must be established in writing and include the following principal contents:
a/ Full names and addresses of the licensor and the licensee;
b/ Licensing bases;
c/ Licensing scope;
d/ Payment price and mode;
e/ Rights and obligations of the involved parties;
f/ Liability for contract breaches. (…)
COPYRIGHT (…) REPRESENTATION, CONSULTANCY AND SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS
Article 56.- Organizations acting as collective representatives of copyright
2. Organizations acting as (…) representatives of copyright shall conduct the following activities (…):
a/ Performing the management of copyright (…); conducting negotiations for licensing, collection and division of royalties, remunerations and other material benefits from the exercise of authorized rights;
b/ Protecting legitimate rights and interests of their members; organizing conciliations upon occurrence of disputes.
3. Organizations acting as (…) representatives of copyright (…) shall have the following rights and duties:
a/ To conduct creation-promoting activities (…);
b/ To cooperate with their counterparts in international and national organizations on the protection of copyright (…); (…)
Article 57.- Copyright consultancy and service organizations
2. Copyright (…) consultancy and service organizations shall conduct the following activities at the request of authors, copyright holders, (…):
a/ Providing consultancy on issues related to the provisions of law on copyright (…); (…)
c/ Joining other legal relations on copyright (…), protection of legitimate rights and interests of authors, copyright holders (…) under authorization. (…)
PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS GENERAL PROVISIONS ON PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Article 198.- Right to self-protection
1. Intellectual property right holders shall have the right to apply the following measures to protect their intellectual property rights:
b/ Requesting organizations or individuals that commit acts of infringing upon intellectual property rights to terminate their infringing acts, make public apologies or rectifications and pay damages; (…)
d/ Initiating lawsuits at courts (…) to protect their legitimate rights and interests. (…)
Article 199.- Remedies against acts of infringing upon intellectual property rights
1. Organizations and individuals that commit acts of infringing upon intellectual property rights of other organizations and individuals shall be handled with civil, administrative or criminal remedies. (…)
Article 201.- Intellectual property assessment
1. Intellectual property assessment means the use by competent organizations (…) of their professional knowledge and expertise to make assessment of and conclusion on matters related to intellectual property right infringement cases. (…)
3. Intellectual property right holders and other related organizations and individuals shall have the right to request intellectual property assessment to protect their legitimate rights and interests. (…)
HANDLING OF INFRINGEMENTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS WITH CIVIL REMEDIES
Article 202.- Civil remedies Courts shall apply the following civil remedies in handling organizations and individuals that have committed acts of infringing upon intellectual property rights:
1. Compelling the termination of infringing acts;
2. Compelling the public apology and rectification; (…)
4. Compelling the payment of damages; (…)
Article 203.- Right and burden of proof of involved parties
2. The plaintiff shall prove that he is the intellectual property right holder with one of the following evidence: (…)
b/ Necessary evidence proving the basis for establishment of copyright (…);
c/ Copies of license contracts for intellectual property objects where the use right is licensed (…). The plaintiff shall have to produce evidence of acts of infringing upon intellectual property rights (…). (…)
Article 204.- Principles of determination of damage caused by infringements of intellectual property rights
a/ Material damage, including property losses, decreases in income and profit (…);
b/ Spiritual damage, including damage to honor, dignity, prestige, reputation and other spiritual losses caused to authors of (…) artistic (…) works (…).
Article 205.- Bases for determination of compensations for material and spiritual damage caused by infringements of intellectual property rights
1. Where the plaintiff can prove that an act of infringing upon intellectual property rights has caused material damage to him, he shall have the right to request the court to decide on the compensation level (…). a/ Total material damage calculated in an amount of money plus profit gained by the defendant (…)
2. Where the plaintiff can prove that an act of infringing upon intellectual property rights has caused spiritual damage to him, he shall have the right to request the court to decide on the compensation level (…). (…)
IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS (…)
Article 221.- Implementation effect This Law takes effect as from July 1, 2006.
This Law was passed on November 29, 2005, by the XIth National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 8th session.
Chairman of the National Assembly NGUYEN VAN AN