Copyright registration in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz Republic, commonly known as Kyrgyzstan, is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Commonwealth of the Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Turkic Council, the Türksoy community, and the United Nations. The country’s transition economy is heavily dependent on oil and natural gas along with deposits of gold, coal, and uranium. 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 Kyrgyzstan.
Copyright in Kyrgyzstan
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 Kyrgyzstan 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 Kyrgyzstan 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 Kyrgyzstan immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1999.
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 Kyrgyzstan is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Kyrgyzstan 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 Kyrgyzstan 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 Kyrgyzstan
To obtain copyright registration in Kyrgyzstan, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Kyrgyzstan;
- 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 Kyrgyzstan
The copyright law of Kyrgyzstan was amended by the Law of the KR dated November 6, 1999 N 120, June 20, 2001 N 54, February 27, 2003 N 46, May 11, 2004 N 57, August 5, 2008 N 197, June 27, 2011 N 58.
The legislation of Kyrgyzstan that regulates copyright are:
- Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic;
- Civil Code of the Kyrgyz Republic;
- Civil Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic;
- Code on Administrative Liability of the Kyrgyz Republic;
- Law On Copyright and Related Rights;
- Law On the Protection of Traditional Knowledge;
- Law On Legal Protection of Software and Databases;
- Law On Commercial Secrets;
- Decision of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic On Approval of the Regulation on Fees for Registration of Copyright and Related Rights and Topographies of Integrated Circuits;
- Regulation on Distribution of Royalties for Use of Copyright and Related Rights, etc.
You can see a list of Kyrgyzstan IP firms here.