Copyright registration in Ireland. Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. There are three World Heritage Sites on the island: the Brú na Bóinne, Skellig Michael, and the Giant’s Causeway. Several other places are on the tentative list, for example, the Burren, the Ceide Fields, and Mount Stewart. Furthermore, Ireland has a strong commitment to renewable energy and ranks as one of the top 10 markets for clean-technology investment in the 2014 Global Green Economy Index. 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 Ireland.
Copyright in Ireland
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 Ireland 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 Ireland 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 Ireland immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Ireland
Ireland is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1927.
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 Ireland is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Ireland 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 Ireland 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 Ireland
To obtain copyright registration in Ireland, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Ireland;
- 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 Ireland
Copyright law of Ireland is applicable to most typical copyright situations (films, sound recordings books etc.). Protection expires 70 years after the death of the author/creator. Irish law includes a provision for “fair dealing,” similar to that used by other countries.
The publisher of any publication in Ireland must deliver within one month of publication copies of the work to the National Library of Ireland, the British Library, and the libraries of Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, the University of Limerick, and of the four constituent universities of the National University of Ireland.
These nine bodies do not need to request such copies. Where such a publication is a serial work, a copy of every issue must be provided. In addition, four other libraries, those of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, may require copies to be provided to them. All of the named bodies may also require an electronic copy of the work, which must be provided if it exists.
You can see a list of Ireland IP firms here.