The acts of copying and cropping articles, images and videos posted on official websites of organisations or individuals might be subject to administrative and even criminal sanctions in many cases.

The contents often associated with copyright infringement on the Internet include articles, images and videos.

Some acts that are considered copyright infringement may include:

• Publishing and distribution of works without the permission of the author.

• Using works without citation or incorrectly referring to the real name or pseudonym of the author.

• Editing, cropping or distorting works in any manner that may prejudice the honour or reputation of the author.

• Copying works without the permission of the author.

Fine for copyright infringement

The Law on Intellectual Property provides two mechanisms to deal with copyright violations:

• Administrative sanctions: specifically, monetary fine will be imposed provided the copyright infringement causes damage to the authors, consumers or society. The amount of the fine, depending on each act of violation, can range from VNĐ2 million to VNĐ250 million.

• Criminal sanctions: criminal elements who infringe intellectual property rights shall be prosecuted for criminal liability in accordance with criminal law.

Vietnamese law protects the copyright of content posted on the websites of organisations and individuals from the moment that such contents are created and expressed by the author in a certain form, regardless of whether they are published and registered or not.

Works

The works protected by copyright must satisfy two criteria:

• Works are created by the author’s intelligence and not copied from others.

• They are not works deemed to be common news that anyone can access, an article that informs and quotes the original content of a legal document and its translation and are not articles that are theoretical and introduce concepts and pure data.

Images, videos (recordings, video recordings)

Recordings and video recordings are protected by law when the producers or publishers of such images and videos fall into one of the following categories:

• Have Vietnamese nationality; or

• Are protected under international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam is a member.

Copyright protection for both foreign organisations and individuals

Vietnamese law also protects the copyright of content of foreign individuals and organisations that are published:

• For the first time in Việt Nam, without being published in any country before; or

• Simultaneously in Việt Nam within 30 days of being published for the first time in another country.

• They shall be protected under international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam is a member.

The term of copyright protection

There is indefinite copyright protection for the name of the work; real name or pseudonym on the work; and the integrity of the work.

The term of copyright protection for cinematographic, photographic, theatre and applied art works, besides anonymous works shall be 50 years, commencing from the date when the works are first published. The term of protection for those that do not belong to the aforementioned categories shall last throughout the life of the author and the 50 years after the author’s death. In case of co-authored works, the term of protection shall expire in the 50^th year after the last co-author’s death.

Legal solutions to protect copyright

When copyright infringement is discovered, depend on the severity of the infringement, organisationsor individuals may:

·        Apply technological measures to stop the copyright infringement;

·        Request the organisations and individuals infringing copyright to apologise, rectify publicly and give compensation for damage.

·        Submit a request to the competent state authority to handle the acts of infringement, following the provisions of the law on handling administrative, civil and criminal violations.

Before you submit a request to the state for rights protection, individuals whose rights have been violated should collect evidence (take screenshots of copying sites, collect relevant data, etc.). It is necessary to search for experts for guidance and preparation of legal documents to file a petition within the statute of limitation.

Technological solutions

Besides the above-mentioned legal solutions, PLF Law Firm encourages you to use some of the following technological means to prevent and stop the content posted on your websites from being copied and cropped:

·        Use JavaScript, a programming language that can prevent users from selecting the contents of articles or can prevent right clicking when the articles are read.

·        Use Tynt Publisher Tools, which automatically add source links of articles that are copied.

·        Use DMCA Protected: request the service provider - ISP (Internet service provider) such as Viettel, FPT and VNPT to intervene and protect your rights.

·        Use www.copyscape.com to search for sites with content copied from your site. – PLF LAW FIRM