How do I register copyright for my songs?

Copyright protection attaches as soon as you fix the song in a "tangible medium."

Though many folks are still under the misapprehension that you have to register your work with Copyright Office to "copyright" it, that hasn't been true for decades. Generally speaking, if you scribble something on a sheet of paper and then someone comes around and copies it, they've violated your copyright in the scribble.

Copyright in Vietnam

On the other hand, if you're just riffing in your bedroom and someone comes by, listens in through your window, and then copies your song, you're probably not going to win on your copyright claim. If you riffed and then recorded it, wrote down the music notation, etc., then you would have secured the copyright at that time.

Note, though, that although registration isn't necessary to protect your work via the Copyright Act, it is a precondition to suing in federal court. So if you write down a song in 2001, discover that someone copied it in 2011, you'd have to register the copyright (even in 2011 or 2012) before you could sue on it. Statutory damages would also be limited to the date you registered onward (i.e., you wouldn't be able to claim statutory damages from 2001 to present).

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced copyright with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

We assist our clients in all steps of the prosecution phase of IP management.

Source: Quora 

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The Valid Transfer Date of Member or Shareholder Rights of Buyer Arising from M&A

The specific time for transferring ownership right of asset is very important in all contracts. This time affects the lawful rights and obligations of not only seller, purchaser but also of the third party.

The most-important principal of civil law is the recognition and respect of agreement between the related parties. It means that the parties may freely decide the specific time for transferring ownership rights. Nonetheless, in some special case such as M&A contract, the specific time is not under the decision of parties.

In legal term of Vietnam, M&A is deemed as similar to split-off, split-up, merger, acquisition of an enterprise, contributing capital to existing enterprise, and purchasing contributed capital of member or shareholder of existing enterprise.

When is the transfer of member or shareholder rights of buyer come into effect in cases of split-off, split-up, merger and consolidations, acquisition?

The Law on Enterprise 2014 provides the definition for each type as follows:

For splitting up enterprise:

“Article 192. Split-up

4.      The splitted-up company shall cease to exist after the new companies are granted Enterprise Business Registration. The new companies are jointly responsible for the unpaid debts, labor contracts, and other liabilities of the splitted-up company, or reach an agreement with the creditors, customers, and employees to decide on one of the new companies to settle such obligations.”

For splitting off enterprise:

“Article 193. Split-off

5.      After business registration, the splitted-off company and new companies are jointly responsible for the unpaid debts, labor contracts, and other liabilities of the splitted-off company, unless otherwise agreed among the splitted-off company, new companies, the splitted-off company’s creditors, customers, and employees.

For merger and consolidations of enterprise:

“Article 193. Consolidation

5.      After business registration, the consolidated companies shall cease to exist; the new company shall take over the lawful rights and interests as well as unpaid debts, labor contract, and other liabilities of the consolidated companies.”

For acquisition of company:

 “Article 195. Acquisition

2.      Procedures for acquisition:

3.      c) After business registration, the acquired companies shall cease to exist; the acquirer shall take over the lawful rights and interests as well as unpaid debts, employment contract, and other liabilities of the acquired companies.”

The above regulations of laws have determined the specific time for ceasing survival, transferring rights and obligations from old entity(ies) to new entity(ies) after split-off, split-up, merger and consolidations, acquisition. This time is specified after completing the legal procedures at competent state authorities.

After being granted an enterprise registration certificate or carrying out business adjustment and registration procedures, the new entity(ies) must (jointly) be responsible for: unpaid debts, labor contracts, and other liabilities, and the old entity(ies) will either cease to exist or still exist with smaller or bigger business. Accordingly, although the buyer and the seller (called collectively the parties participating M&A) have signed a M&A contract which has been agreed to take effect before the completion of legal procedures at state authorities, the buyer has not had any legitimate right yet to the seller. The M&A contract is one of the necessary documents submitted to state authorities to proceed the next legal procedures.

When is the transfer of member or shareholder rights of buyer come into effect in cases of contributing capital to existing enterprise, purchasing contributed capital of member or shareholder of existing enterprise?

The purpose of M&A is to gain control and dominance right of all or part of seller, not merely owning part of the capital or shares of the enterprise as a normal investment activity. With these cases, no new entity is established and no old entity is ceased to exist. The enterprise, after contributing capital or purchasing contributed capital, may have a change in the capital contribution ratio or keep it unchanged, but the information of members and shareholders of the enterprise shall be modified. The Law on Enterprise recognizes the rights of only members of limited liability companies and shareholder of joint stock companies but does not prescribe legal status before becoming a member or shareholder.

When is investor recognized as a legitimate member, shareholder to get the rights and obligations that the law stipulates?

The contribution of sufficient capital as committed is not a decisive factor in being entitled the right of member or shareholder. As well as notifying to the competent authorities is uncertain to generate member and shareholder right. Nevertheless, the Enterprise Law has uniform provisions on this issue as follows:

For joint stock company:

·         Contributing capital:

“Article 124. Offering of shares to existing shareholders

3.      In case the amount of offered shares are not completely purchased by shareholders and recipients the preemptive right, the Board of Directors is entitled to sell the remaining authorized shares to shareholders of the company or other people in a reasonable manner and conditions that are not more convenient than the conditions offered to shareholders, unless otherwise accepted by the General Meeting of Shareholders or shares are sold via a Stock Exchange.

4.      Shares are considered as sold when they are fully paid and information about the purchaser mentioned in Article 121.2 hereof are fully written in the shareholder registration book; from this time, the purchaser shall be come a shareholder of the company.”

·         Purchasing contributed capital:

“Article 126. Share transfer

7.      Recipients of shares in the cases mentioned in this Article shall only become the company’s shareholders from the day on which their information mentioned in Article 121.2 hereof are fully recorded in the shareholder registration book.”

For limited liability company:

·         Purchasing contributed capital:

“Article 53. Transferring contributed capital

2.      The transferring member still has the rights and obligations to the company in proportion to his/her capital until information about the buy mentioned in Article 49.1.(b), (c) and (d) hereof is written on the member registration book.”

Accordingly, when the information of buyer is recorded in member/shareholder registration book, the buyer will officially have the legal rights for members and shareholders. The next legal procedures are intended to notify the competent authority and amend the enterprise registration certificate. The most important content of the registration book is the total amount of contributed capital of each member or shareholder. This is evidence for the ownership in limited liability companies and joint stock companies. For a limited liability company, both registration book and enterprise registration certificate are two proofs of ownership right of the member. However, for joint stock company, only registration book is evidence on shareholder’s ownership right. This is the reason showing important role of registration book.

Depending on each M&A form, the buyer and the seller should attend to the time of termination and generation of legitimate rights and interests, obligations and responsibilities as members and shareholders. M&A aims to purchase and sell a special asset, which is property or capital of an enterprise. With the special assets, the regulation of laws may stipulate strictly depending on case by case which it is suggested the parties consult with law firm in M&A in Vietnam to receive advice.

ANT Lawyers – A Law firm in Vietnam has law offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.  The lawyers at each law offices in Vietnam have consistently made valuable and important contributions to our profession through the cases we handled on daily basis to facilitate business transaction or represented our clients to access justice.

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How can I get copyright?

Copyright can be attained for any original expression of an idea or work. Remember the idea must be in a tangible form; this means that the work that you want to copyright must have a physical presence so that is can be represented to the examiner in that format.

Copyright in Vietnam 

What can be registered as Copyright?

The application for copyright can be made for the following works:

-Literary works such as books and poems

-Dramatic works and theatrical plays

-Cinematographic films and videos

-Original musical works and sound recordings, excluding any actions and words to be included while performing the musical work

-Artistic works such as paintings, photographs and technical drawings including architectural designs

Copyright Registration Process

Registration of copyright can be done through physical as well as through online method and the documents that you require to file the copyright application with the relevant authority are:

1.Work Copies

Copy of the original work that is to be submitted with the examiner (3 copies).

2.Applicant Details

The identity proof of the applicant that should include

-Passport

-Driving License

3. Address Proof

The applicant will have to submit the following as address proof of the applicant

-Utility bills(water and electricity bill)

-Passport

-Rent Agreement if residing in a rented premise.

The application for copyright protection goes through the following process:

1.Filing Application

-The process to complete the filing of the application process might take around 3 days.

-The applicant needs to submit the application with Form-XIV along with all the documents and registration fee.

-If you are submitting the form physically at the Copyright Office then, you need to submit the fee through a Demand Draft.

2.Objection

-The objection on the filed application is raised wherein the applicant has to provide answers to the examiner within the stipulated time period.

-The examiner can also call for a hearing wherein a decision to provide registration or not can be taken. The applicant will have to wait for a period of 30 days before the application is moved onto the next stage.

3. Examination

-Once the objections are cleared the examiner checks the application further for any discrepancies and errors.

-If the examiner finds any discrepancy with the application he will notify the applicant with a discrepancy letter and then the applicant will have to make a reply to the letter justifying the issues that are raised in the examination.

4.Registration

-Once the examination process is done with the applicant will receive notification from the examiner and from there on the person can use the copyright symbol along with his work.

 Source: Quora 

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What is the difference between product design and industrial design?

Product design is about creating product - taking ideas from scratch to finished solutions, most often 1 or 2 pieces of finished products. As a product designer it is not mandatory to have knowledge on manufacturing processes or producing CAD drawings.

Industrial design in Vietnam 

 Industrial design is about creating ideas for mass production, i.e, creating concepts that can be manufactured and be sold. Therefore it requires a bit more work in transferring and customising designs (product designs) to make it ready for manufacturing. You require knowledge of manufacturing processes and operations in order to do your work.

Some key highlights

Product design can be considered to be a subset of Industrial design.

Industrial design can include - product design, furniture design, footwear, and in certain cases fashion and interior design.

You can survive in product design without technical knowledge, but you definitely need to have technical/engineering knowledge to be an industrial designer. Unless you are doing early concept works.

In industrial design you also learn about business aspects, in order to customise the products to match the business and market needs.

In general, product design is more about creating solutions, industrial design is creating solutions and taking them to manufacturing. An industrial designer can be a product designer, but a product designer cannot be industrial designers.

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

We assist our clients in all steps of the prosecution phase of IP management.

Source: Quora 

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Registering Copyright Services in Vietnam

Under Law on Intellectual Property of Vietnam, copyright means rights of an organization or individual to Work which such organization or individual created or owns. In addition, the subject matter of copyright shall comprise literary, artistic and scientific works; the subject matter of copyright related rights shall comprise performances, audio and visual fixation, broadcasts and satellite signals carrying coded programs.

Copyright in Vietnam 

However, in fact, it is challenging to prove the owner’s copyright if there is no prior prepared evidence. A registration of copyright is the most important proof if violation or dispute happens. The copyright registration shall deter infringement, when owner can prove that the Work is protected under copyright law.

With highly professional staff and great experience in intellectual property aspect in Vietnam, ANT Lawyers would like to support you in registering and protecting your copyright and related rights in Vietnam as following:

Our services in copyright registration

-Provision of professional opinions and advice in relation to registration of copyright and related copyright;

-Advising, preparation, drafting, filing and prosecution of registration of copyright and related copyright;

-Provision of professional opinions and advice in relation to license and assignment of copyright and related copyright;

-Appeal and cancellation;

-Proceedings before the judicial authorities.

How to register a copyright or related rights in Vietnam?

Condition of copyright registration

A Work shall be registered its owner’s copyright if it does meet the following conditions:

-The ideas of the Work shall be presented particularly in a visible material

-The Work shall be original (Be made directly by the author without copying from any other works or people).

Required information and document

-Original Power of Attorney (POA) from the Applicant;

-Information of the author such as: Full name, Identify Card Number, Current address, permanent address; …

-Information of the Works such as: Name, the date of publication (if any), the place of Publication (if any); …

-Business registration certificate or establishment certificate (if applicant is association or organization);

-Written promise of being ownership of the work of the applicant;

-Some other specialized document with each specified aspect.

Note: The POA must be signed by the applicant or a duly authorized representative on behalf of the Applicant and no further notarization or legalization is required.

 Duration of copyright protection

-The following rights are protected forever:

-Right to give titles to their works.

-Right 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.

-Right to protect the integrity of their works; and to forbid other persons to modify, edit or distort their works in whatever form, causing harm to the honor and reputation of the author.

The following rights are protected within the stipulated duration in law

-Right to make derivative works;

-Right to display their works to the public;

-Right to reproduce their works;

-Right to distribute or import the original or copies of their works;

-Right to communicate their works to the public by wireless or landline means, electronic information networks or other technical means;

-Right to lease the original or copies of cinematographic works and computer programs;

-Right to reproduce their works.

The protection duration of each type of Work with the above rights shall be different. In particularly, cinematographic works, photographic works, stage works, applied art works and anonymous works shall have a term of protection of fifty (50) years as from the date of first publication. Other work shall be protected for the whole life of the author and for fifty (50) years after his or her death.

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

We assist our clients in all steps of the prosecution phase of IP management.

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