Copyright registration in Mongolia. Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia. Monaco has a population of just 3.3 million, making it the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign nation. Economic activity in Mongolia has long been based on herding and agriculture, although the development of extensive mineral deposits of copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold have emerged as a driver of industrial production. Because of a boom in the mining sector, Mongolia had high growth rates at the beginning of the 21st century. In addition, in February 2011, Citigroup analysts determined Mongolia to be one of the “global growth generating” countries, which are countries with the most promising growth prospects for 2010–2050. 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 Mongolia.
Copyright in Mongolia
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 Mongolia 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 Mongolia 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 Mongolia immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Mongolia
Mongolia is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1998.
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 Mongolia is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Mongolia 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 Mongolia 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 needed to resolve issues related to copyright, proving 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 Mongolia
To obtain copyright registration in Mongolia, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Mongolia;
- 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 Mongolia
The Law of Mongolia on Copyright and Related Rights (the latest edition in 2020) contains regulations on the relationship between artists and artistic freedom. These regulations specifically define and uphold the rights of artists, authors, copyrighted works, works protected by copyright, non-copyrighted works, artistic rights, radio and television organizations, and joint management organizations.
The Ministry of Culture and the Culture and Arts Authority Implementing Agency of the Government of Mongolia are the primary organizations in Mongolia dealing with copyright issues.
You can see a list of Mongolia IP firms here.