Is it permissible to register for copyright of fanpage or group on Facebook in Vietnam?

Is it permissible to register for copyright of fanpage or group on Facebook in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 14 of the Law on Intellectual Property in 2005 (amended by Clause 5 Article 1 of the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property in 2009) stipulating types of works which are protected by copyright as follows:

1. Literary, artistic and scientific works eligible for copyright protection include:

a/ Literary and scientific works, textbooks, teaching courses and other works expressed in written languages or other characters:

b/ Lectures, addresses and other sermons;

c/ Press works;

d/ Musical works;

e/ Dramatic works;

f/ Cinematographic works and works created by a process analogous to cinematography (below collectively referred to as cinematographic works);

g/ Plastic-art works and works of applied ait;

h/ Photographic works;

i Architectural works;

j/ Sketches, plans, maps and drawings related to topography, architecture or scientific works

k/ Folklore and folk art works of folk culture;

l/ Computer programs and data compilations.

As regulations above, fanpage on Facebook is not a type of works which are protected by copyright. You may register copyright for logos, posts, photographs, videos, etc of fanpage on Facebook. Based on the needs and desired scope of protection, individuals and organizations can choose the type of work for copyright registration. In fact, there have been a number of famous fanpages that have registered for logo protection such as: BEATVN of BEAT Vietnam Joint Stock Company, Tinhte of ViMoBi Co., Ltd., Otofun of OTV Joint Stock Company, eva.vn of 24H Online Advertising Joint Stock Company, Khoai lang thang of Dinh Vo Hoai Phuong, etc.

What are procedures for registration of copyright in Vietnam?

The first step to register a fanpage copyright is to perform the copyright registration procedure. This is not a mandatory procedure, but it is very important. The process of copyright registration goes through two main steps as follows.

You need to prepare a full application for copyright registration according to the guidance in Clause 2, Article 50 of the Law on Intellectual Property as amended by Article 2 of the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property in 2009, including:

(a) A declaration for registration of copyright or related rights.

A declaration must be made in Vietnamese and signed by the author, copyright holder, related rights holder or person authorized to file the application; and must include complete information on the applicant, author, copyright holder or related rights holder; the summarized content of the work, performance, audio and visual fixation or broadcast; the name of the author, and the title of the work used to make the derivative work if the work to be registered is a derivative work; the date, place and form of publication; and an undertaking accepting liability for the information set out in the application.

The Ministry of Culture. Sports and Tourism shall regulate the sample form of a declaration for registration of copyright or related rights.

(b) Two copies of the work the subject of the application for copyright registration, or two copies of the formulated object the subject of the application for related rights registration;

(c) A letter of authorization where the applicant is an authorized person;

(d) Documents proving the right to file the application where the applicant acquires such right by way of inheritance, succession or assignment;

(dd) Written consent of the co-authors in the case of a work under joint authorship;

(e) Written consent of the co-owners if the copyright or related rights are jointly owned.

After preparing a valid dossier, you submit it to the Copyright Office of Vietnam or two representative offices of the Copyright Office of Vietnam to complete procedures for registration of fanpage copyright according to the instructions in Article 52 of the Law on Intellectual Property:

The State administrative body for copyright and related rights shall be responsible to grant a registered copyright certificate or registered related rights certificate to the applicant, or shall notify the applicant in writing in a case of refusal to grant a certificate, within a time-limit of fifteen (15) working days from the date of receipt of a valid application.

You can register for trademark protection for your logo and fanpage name. In order to successfully register for protection, you need to pay attention to the cases of placing logos and fanpage names according to Clause 2, Article 74 of the Law on Intellectual Property in 2005 as follows:

2. A mark shall be deemed to be indistinctive if it is a sign falling into one of the following categories:

(a) Simple shapes and geometric figures, numerals, letters or scripts of uncommon languages, except where such sign has been widely used and recognized as a mark;

(b) Conventional signs or symbols, pictures or common names in any language of goods or services that have been widely and regularly used and known to many people;

(c) Signs indicating time, place and method of production; category, quantity, quality, properties, ingredients, use, value or other characteristics descriptive of goods or services, except where such sign has acquired distinctiveness by use before the filing of the application for registration of the mark;

(d) Signs describing the legal status and business sector of business entities;

(dd) Signs indicating the geographical origin of goods or services, except where such sign has been widely used and recognized as a mark or registered as a collective mark or certification mark as stipulated in this Law;

(e) Signs other than integrated marks which are identical with or confusingly similar to registered marks of identical or similar goods or services on the basis of applications for registration with earlier filing dates or priority dates, as applicable, including applications for registration of marks filed pursuant to a treaty of which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member;

(g) Signs identical with or confusingly similar to another person's mark which has been widely used and recognized for similar or identical goods or services before the filing date or the priority date, as applicable;

(h) Signs identical with or confusingly similar to another person's mark which has been registered for identical or similar goods or services, the registration certificate of which has been invalidated for no more than five years, except where the ground for such invalidation was non-use of the mark pursuant to sub-clause (d) of article 95.1 of this Law;

(i) Signs identical with or confusingly similar to another person's mark recognized as a well known mark which has been registered for goods or services which are identical with or similar to those bearing such well known mark, or for dissimilar goods or services if the use of such mark may affect the distinctiveness of the well known mark or the mark registration was aimed at taking advantage of the reputation of the well known mark;

(k) Signs identical with or similar to another person's trade name currently in use if the use of such sign may cause confusion to consumers as to the origin of goods or services;

(l) Signs identical with or similar to a protected geographical indication if the use of such sign may mislead consumers as to the geographical origin of goods;

(m) Signs identical with, containing or being translated or transcribed from protected geographical indications for wines or spirits if such sign has been registered for use with respect to wines and spirits not originating from the geographical areas bearing such geographical indications;

(n) Signs identical with or insignificantly different from another person's industrial design which has been protected on the basis of an application for registration of an industrial design with a filing date or priority date earlier than that of the application for registration of the mark.

Best regards!