Copyright registration in Armenia. Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country located in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia. Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Armenia is a developing country and ranks 81st on the Human Development Index (2018). Its economy is primarily based on industrial output and mineral extraction. 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 Armenia.
Copyright in Armenia
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the works are created in a certain material form, regardless of content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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, copyright registration is still advised 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 Armenia
Armenia is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 2000.
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 Armenia is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Armenia will be given the same copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries. The original from Armenia can be that the work is made and published for the first time in this country or if the author of the work is of Armenia ethnicity.
While in other countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form, registering for copyright in Armenia is critical in order for the copyright owner to obtain evidence of copyright.
Evidence of copyright is extremely important even when copyright is obtained automatically.
When registering, the work – the subject matter of the application gets a date and a time stamp recorded, as well as information about the work and proof of work 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 significantly big amount of money and time attempting to fight copyright issues and prove ownership of the original work.
Documents for copyright registration in Armenia
To register for copyright protection in Armenia, the author needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration;
- 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 Armenia
Armenia Copyright Law extends the scope to works of scholarship, literature, and art that are the result of creative activity regardless of the use and merits of the work and also to the means of its expression.
In Armenia, important legislations in copyright are:
- Constitution of the Republic of Armenia;
- Civil Code of the Republic of Armenia;
- Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia;
- Law On Copyright and Related Rights.
For international treaties, Armenia has become the members of:
- Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization;
- WIPO Copyright Treaty;
- WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty;
- Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms;
- Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations;
- Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works;
- Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite;
- Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of the Protection of Copyright and Neighboring Rights.
You can see a list of Armenia IP Firms here