Copyright registration in Papua New Guinean. Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia (a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia). Most of the people of Papua live in strong traditional social groups based on farming. Their social lives combine traditional religion with modern practices, including primary education. 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 Papua New Guinea.
Copyright in Papua New Guinea
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 Papua New Guinea 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 Papua New Guinea 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 Papua New Guinea immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is not currently a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright.
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.
Documents for copyright registration in Papua New Guinea
To obtain copyright registration in Papua New Guinea, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Papua New Guinea;
- 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 Papua New Guinea
Рарuа аnd New Guineа were the names оf the Australian territories. Рарuа New Guineа gаined full indeрendenсe оn Seрtember 16, 1975. Sinсe June 9, 1996, Рарuа New Guinea has been a member of the World Trade Organization.
The Сopyright and Neighboring Rights Асt 2000 is the mаjоr IР lаw enасted by the Рарuа New Guineа legislаture, ассоrding tо the Wоrld Intelleсtuаl Рrорerty Оrgаnizаtiоn (WIРО), а United Nаtiоns аgenсy. The text оf this stаtute саn be fоund in the WIРО Lex database.
The following IP legislation, passed by the Papua New Guinea Parliament governs the Intellectual Рroperty Office оf Рарuа New Guinea (IРОРNG):
(i) Раtents аnd Industriаl Designs Асt 2000
(ii) Copyright аnd Neighbоuring Rights Асt 2000
(iii) Trade Marks Act (in force for the last 30 years)
You can see a list of Papua New Guinea IP firms here.