Copyright registration in Cuba. Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, the G77, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organisation of African, Caribbean and the Pacific States, ALBA and the Organization of American States. It has currently one of the world’s only planned economies, and its economy is dominated by the tourism industry and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Cuba has historically – both before and during Communist rule – performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy, infant mortality, and life expectancy. 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 Cuba.
Copyright in Cuba
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 Cuba
Cuba is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1997.
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 Cuba is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Cuba will be given the same copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries. The original from Cuba 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 Cuba ethnicity.
While in most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form, copyright registration in Cuba 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 Cuba
To obtain copyright registration in Cuba, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Cuba;
- 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 Cuba
Cuba has been a member of the Universal Copyright Convention since 18 June 1957, the World Trade Organization since 20 April 1995.
As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 14 of December 28, 1977, on Copyright as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Cuba. The 1977 law repealed the Law of Intellectual Property of 10 January 1879 and its regulations of 3 September 1880, as well as articles 428 and 429 of the Civil Code of 1889.
WIPO holds the text of the 1977 law in their WIPO Lex database. This version takes into account amendments up to Decree-Law No. 156 of September 28, 1994.
You can see a list of Cuba IP firms here.