Copyright registration in Greece. Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Greece is a unitary parliamentary republic, and a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy, and a high quality of life, ranking 32nd on the Human Development Index. Its economy is the largest in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor. Greece’s unique cultural heritage, large tourism industry, prominent shipping sector, and geostrategic importance classify it as a middle power. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of copyright registration in Greece.
Copyright in Greece
Unlike other intellectual property rights such as trademarks, patents, industrial designs, plant varieties, etc., copyright does not need to be registered for protection but will be automatically protected from the time the works are created.
The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
Accordingly, whether registered or not, the copyright to the work will still be protected. However, the creator should still apply for copyright registration early because early registration will give the author/owner of the work many advantages in the event of a dispute.
When unauthorized use of work occurs around the world, the owner of a work who has registered copyright in advance will not have to waste time and complicate matters with proving himself/herself to be the legitimate owner of the work.
Thereby, in order to avoid passivity, the owner of the work should make a copyright registration to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Greece
Greece is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1920.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention) is an international agreement governing copyright. The agreement was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.
As Greece is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Greece will be given copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries.
In most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form. However, the copyright registration in Greece is critical in order for the copyright owner to obtain evidence of copyright.
Evidence of copyright is extremely important even when the works are automatically protected according to copyright law.
When registering, the work will get an application submission date, as well as information about the creation and proof of creative concept and development. This provides unambiguous proof of authorship and ownership that can’t be denied.
Proof of copyright is essential in an age when the publishing, dissemination, and theft of material is extremely easy with the exposure of the Internet.
If copyright registration is not made, copyright owners will lose a big amount of money as well as time attempting to fight copyright issues and prove ownership of the original work.
If the copyright owner has already registered for copyright protection to the IP office, they would have a strong legal foundation which would increase their chance of winning against the violating parties.
Documents for copyright registration in Greece
To obtain copyright registration in Greece, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Greece;
- Two copies of copyrighted work;
- Documents proving the right to apply;
- Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors;
- Written consent of the co-owners, if the copyright is jointly owned;
- Notarized identity card of the author or owner of the work;
- Power of Attorney, if the applicant is an authorized person;
- Notarized copy of the company’s business registration certificate (if the owner is a company).
The copyright law of Greece
In Greece, intellectual property legislation comprises copyright and related rights and industrial property.
Copyright and related rights are protected under Law No. 2121/1993 on copyright, related rights, and cultural matters. The Greek Copyright Law is heavily influenced by the French legal doctrine of droit d’auteur. The legal document protects both the moral and economic rights of the authors.
The Greek Copyright Law sets out various provisional and ordinary enforcement measures and sanctions available in cases of copyright and related rights infringement.
You can see a list of Greece IP Firms here.