Copyright registration in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan, also known as Turkmenia, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. The country possesses the world’s fourth-largest reserves of natural gas and substantial oil resources. Turkmenistan has taken a cautious approach to economic reform, hoping to use gas and cotton sales to sustain its economy. 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 Turkmenistan.
Copyright in Turkmenistan
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The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.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 Turkmenistan 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 Turkmenistan 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 Turkmenistan immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 2016.
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 Turkmenistan is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Turkmenistan 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 Turkmenistan 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 Turkmenistan
To obtain copyright registration in Turkmenistan, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Turkmenistan;
- 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 Turkmenistan
As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 257-IV of January 10, 2012, on Copyright and Related Rights as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Turkmenistan. WIPO holds the text of this law in the WIPO Lex database.
Under Law No. 257-IV of January 10, 2012:
- Copyright lasts for the life of the author and 50 years after his death, except as provided in Article 23(2) to (5).
- Copyright for works published anonymously or under a pseudonym are valid for 50 years after the date of lawful promulgation.
- Copyright in a work created in collaboration is valid for life and fifty years after the death of the last of the authors.
- Copyright in a work first published after the death of the author is valid for 50 years after its release.
Calculation of dates begins on 1 January of the year after the year of the event that is the basis for calculating the duration.
You can see a list of Turkmenistan IP firms here.