Copyright registration in Hungary. Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Hungary is a middle power in international affairs, owing mostly to its cultural and economic influence. It is considered a developed country with a high-income economy and ranks 40th on the Human Development Index, with citizens enjoying universal health care and free-tuition secondary education. Hungary has a long history of significant contributions to arts, music, literature, sports, science, and technology. It is the thirteenth-most popular tourist destination in Europe and it is also a member of numerous international organizations. 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 Hungary.
Copyright in Hungary
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 Hungary
Hungary is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1922.
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 Hungary is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Hungary 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 Hungary 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 Hungary
To obtain copyright registration in Hungary, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Hungary;
- 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 Hungary
Hungarian laws and regulations regulating copyright include:
- Act LXXVI of 1999 on Copyright
- Act XCIII of 2016 on Collective management of copyright and related rights
- Decree 26/2010. (XII. 28.) KIM on the detailed rules of the voluntary register of works
- Decree 100/2009. (V. 8.) Korm. of the Government on the detailed rules related to the licensing of certain use of orphan works
- Act No. CVIII. of 2001 on certain aspects of electronic commerce services and information society services (E- Commerce Act).
- Government Decree No. 156/1999. (XI. 3.) on Structure and Operation of the Council of Copyright Experts
- Government Decree No. 158/2000 on the Determination on the Scope of Reprographic Equipments
- Government Decree 117/2004. (IV. 28.) Korm. on the determination of the manner and conditions of the communication and making available to the public in the case of free use provided for in Article 38(5) of Act LXXVI of 1999 on Copyright
- Act No. III of 1952 on the Code of Civil Procedure
- Act No. IV of 1959 on the Civil Code (Chapter VII: Inherent Rights and Rights related to Intellectual Products)
- Act No. IV of 1978 on the Criminal Code (Sections 329./A-C)
- Law Decree No. 13/1979 on International Private Law (Section 19)
- Act XXXIII of 1995 on the protection of inventions by patents
- Act No. LIII. of 1994 on judicial litigation (Section 184/A.)
In addition to the above domestic laws, Hungarian’s copyright law is also regulated by the European Union laws and regulations, as well as Treaties, Conventions and other International Norms.
You can see a list of Hungary IP Firms here.