Copyright registration in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a country in Central Asia with a land area of 2,724,900 square kilometers (1,052,100 sq mi). Kazakhstan is the most dominant nation in Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the region’s GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources and is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. 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 Kazakhstan.
Copyright in Kazakhstan
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 in Kazakhstan 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 made a copyright registration in Kazakhstan 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 in Kazakhstan immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1999.
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 Kazakhstan is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Kazakhstan 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 Kazakhstan 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 Kazakhstan
To obtain copyright registration in Kazakhstan, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Kazakhstan;
- 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 Kazakhstan
Besides the Berne Convention, Kazakhstan has been a member of the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 12 November 2004 and the World Trade Organization since 30 November 2015.
As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Law No. 6-I of June 10, 1996, on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended up to Law of No. 419-V of November 24, 2015) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Kazakhstan. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.
Under the Law No. 6-I of June 10, 1996 (as amended up to Law of No. 419-V of November 24, 2015), copyright shall be valid during the life of the author and for the period of 70 years after his/her death.
The works that are not protected are:
1) official documents (laws, court decisions, other texts of legislative, administrative, judicial, and diplomatic nature), and their official translations;
2) state emblems and signs (flags, emblems, decorations, banknotes, and other state symbols and signs);
3) works of folklore;
4) messages about events and facts which are of informational nature.
You can see a list of Kazakhstan IP firms here.