What is copyright? What documents are required for copyright registration?

Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 1 of the 2009 amended Law on Intellectual Property, copyright is the right of an organization or individual to a work they create or own.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 50 of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, Article 2 of the 2009 amended Law on Intellectual Property, amended by Clause 14, Article 1 of the 2022 amended Law on Intellectual Property (Effective from January 1, 2023) on the dossier for copyright registration and related rights registration as follows:

Application for copyright registration, registration of related rights

1. Authors, copyright owners, and related rights owners may directly or authorize other organizations or individuals to submit applications for copyright registration or related rights registration directly, via postal service or via the online public service portal to the state management agency for copyright and related rights.

2. Application for copyright registration and related rights registration includes:

a) Application form for copyright registration and related rights registration.

The application form must be made in Vietnamese and include full information about the applicant, author, copyright owner or related rights owner; completion time; summary of the content of the work, performance, audio recording, video recording or broadcast program; name of author, copyright owner, work used as a derivative work if the registered work is a derivative work; time, place and form of publication; information about re-issuance or exchange (if any), and commitment to responsibility for the information stated in the application form. The application form must be signed or fingerprinted by the author, copyright owner or related rights owner, except in cases where there is no physical ability to sign or fingerprint.

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism prescribes the form of application for copyright registration and related rights registration;

b) Two copies of the work registered for copyright or two copies of the fixed version of the subject of related rights registration;

c) Power of attorney, if the person submitting the application for copyright registration or related rights registration is an authorized person;

d) Documents proving that the owner owns the rights due to self-creation or assignment of creative tasks, signing of creative contracts, inheritance, or transfer of rights;

d) Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors;

e) Written consent of co-owners, if copyright and related rights are jointly owned.

3. Documents specified in Points c, d, dd and e, Clause 2 of this Article must be in Vietnamese; if they are in another language, they must be translated into Vietnamese.

The application for copyright and related rights registration includes the above-mentioned records and documents. The documents specified in points c, d, dd and e must be in Vietnamese; if they are in a foreign language, they must be translated into Vietnamese.