Copyright registration in Cambodia. Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia. While per capita income remains low compared to most neighboring countries, Cambodia has one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, with growth averaging 7.6 percent over the last decade. Agriculture remains the dominant economic sector, with strong growth in textiles, construction, garments, and tourism leading to increased foreign investment and international trade. 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 Cambodia.
Copyright in Cambodia
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the works are created in a certain material form, regardless of content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 Cambodia
Cambodia is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since March 9, 2022.
Cambodia is one of the latest countries to join the Berne Convention until this moment.
Pursuant to Article 33(2) of the said Convention, the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia declares that the Kingdom of Cambodia does not consider itself bound by the provisions of paragraph (1) of Article 33 of that Convention.
In accordance with Article I of the Appendix, the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia also avails itself of the faculties provided for in Articles II and III of the Appendix, during the 10-year period that will expire in October 2024.
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 Cambodia is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Cambodia will be given the same copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries. The original from Cambodia 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 Cambodian ethnicity.
While in most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form, copyright registration in Cambodia 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.
In some cases, they might not win as the burden of legal fees overwhelm them. There might be other reasons such as the pressure from the big organizations and the fact of time-consuming when pursuing the fight.
If the copyright owner has already registered for copyright protection to the IP office, they would get a strong foundation and legal claims even if those situations happen, increasing their chance of winning.
Documents for copyright registration in Cambodia
To register for copyright protection in Cambodia, the author of the work 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 Cambodia
The Law on Copyright and Related Rights in Cambodia was enacted in 2003 as part of Cambodia’s accession to the World Trade Organization.
Cambodia is also a member of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
On July 5, 2016, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts issued a Prakas (declaration) on the Collective Management Organization (CMO) which are formed by copyright owners to manage their rights in common, by administering licenses, collecting royalties, and enforcing rights on their behalf.
You can see a list of Cambodia IP firms here.