How is copyright and related rights infringement handled?

Recently, the Investigation Police Agency of the Ministry of Public Security has initiated 5 criminal cases for the crime of infringing copyright and related rights and prosecuted 7 defendants related to this case.

The question is, how are copyright and related rights regulated and if the above-mentioned crime is committed, how will it be handled?

Lawyer Nguyen Huu Hoc - Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association - said that according to current regulations, copyright is the right of organizations and individuals for works created or owned by themselves, while rights related to copyright (related rights) are the rights of organizations and individuals for performances, audio recordings, video recordings, broadcast programs, satellite signals carrying encoded programs. Copyright on works specified in the Law on Intellectual Property includes personal rights and property rights.

The Law on Intellectual Property also stipulates types of works protected by copyright, and organizations and individuals protected by related rights.

According to the provisions of Article 225 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended in 2017, a person who is not authorized by the copyright and related rights owner but intentionally performs acts of copying works, audio recordings, video recordings or distributing copies to the public, infringing upon the rights being protected in Vietnam and depending on the scale of the organization, the level of illegal profit from 50 million VND or more, or causing damage to the copyright owner from 100 million VND or more, or violating goods worth from 100 million VND or more shall be subject to non-custodial reform or imprisonment for up to 3 years; legal entities committing this crime may be fined up to 3 billion VND or suspended from operation for a period of up to 2 years.

According to lawyer Nguyen Huu Hoc, an important sign to determine that the act of infringing copyright and related rights must be criminally handled is that there must be intentional fault, the violated object is being protected in Vietnam and the amount of profit, damage or value of the violated goods.

If the acts have not reached the level of criminal handling, it is not that they are not in violation, but they are identified as violations but are only administratively sanctioned according to the law on intellectual property, administratively sanctioned violations and must be removed, apologized to, compensated...

Also according to lawyer Hoc, the Law on Intellectual Property also stipulates the limits on copyright, which specifically states cases of using published works without permission but must pay copyright fees, must provide information about the author's name and origin of the work; Exceptions that do not infringe copyright, Exceptions that do not infringe copyright for people with disabilities; Period of copyright protection; Acts of infringement of copyright.

In particular, according to lawyer Nguyen Huu Hoc, the law also stipulates that intellectual property rights owners are allowed to use intellectual property rights to carry out civil, commercial, investment and other transaction activities in accordance with the law related to the law on science, technology and innovation, intellectual property, management, use of public assets and other relevant laws.

Thus, authors or copyright holders can use their rights to do business, contribute capital or mortgage to borrow business capital. In fact, most countries in the world regulate and protect intellectual property rights very strictly. Vietnam's drastic implementation of intellectual property protection is inevitable, in accordance with international treaties to which Vietnam is a member and towards developing the cultural industry," lawyer Hoc emphasized.

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