Copyright registration in Congo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country in Central Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely rich in natural resources. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the world’s largest producer of cobalt ore and a major producer of copper and diamonds. The latter comes from Kasai province in the west. By far the largest mines in the DRC are located in southern Katanga province (formerly Shaba), and are highly mechanized, with a capacity of several million tons per year of copper and cobalt ore, and refining capacity for the metal ore. The DRC is the second-largest diamond-producing nation in the world, and artisanal and small-scale miners account for most of its production. 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 patent registration in Congo.
Copyright in Congo
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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, 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 Congo
Congo is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1962.
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 Congo is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Congo will be given the same copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries. The original from Congo 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 Congo ethnicity.
While in most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form, copyright registration in Congo 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 creation gets a date and a time stamp recorded, 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 significant big amount of money and 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 Congo
To obtain copyright registration in Congo, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Congo;
- 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 Congo
The DRC has been a member of the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1997, as well as a signatory to various other international treaties.
As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Ordinance-Law No. 86-033 of April 5, 1986, on the Protection of Copyright and Neighboring Rights as the main copyright law enacted by the executive of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.
Main points in the copyright law of 1986 in Congo:
- Photographs enter the public domain 25 years after they are first published.
- Non-photographic works are in the public domain when the author has died more than 50 years ago.
- Anonymous or pseudonymous works are in the public domain when they were published more than 50 years ago.
You can see a list of Congo IP firms here.