1. Which legal regulation governs copyright and related rights?
Copyright and rights related to copyright, i.e. rights of performers, producers of a phonogram and an audiovisual fixation, broadcasters, the right of a person who first published a previously unpublished work after the expiry of its copyright protection, the right of a publisher to remuneration and also the sui generis right of makers of databases are governed by Act. No. 121/2000 Coll, on copyright, rights related to copyright and amendment to certain laws (the Copyright Act), as amended.
The Copyright Act is implemented by Decree No. 488/2006 Coll.,stipulating types of devices for making copies, types of unrecorded media and the amount of lump-sum royalties. The Decree was amended by novel No. 408/2008 Coll.
2. Which itemsenjoy protection under the Copyright Act?
Pursuant to Section 2 (1) of the Copyright Act the subject matter of copyright shall be a literary work or any other work of art or a scientific work, which is a unique outcome of the creative activity of the author and is expressed in any objectively perceivable manner including electronic form, permanent or temporary, irrespective of its scope, purpose or significance.
Each and every work is unique. Existence of two identical works is therefore out of the question, because one of them will be a forgery of the other. Only a natural person has the ability to create works as a unique outcome of the creative activity. On the contrary, legal persons lack such ability and they can only execute economic rights of the authors on grounds of law (employee work under Sec. 58) or under licence granted by the author (under Section 2358 Civil Code).
The work has to be expressed in any objectively perceivable manner. It means that other persons than the author may perceive the work. The work cannot exist only in author´s mind.
A computer program, photographand a creation expressed by a process similar to photography shall also be considered a work if it is original in the sense that it is the author’s own intellectual creation.
A database which by the way of the selection or arrangement of its content is the author's own intellectual creation, and in which the individual parts are arranged in a systematic or methodical way and are individually accessible by electronic or other means, is a collection of works.
The copyright in a work shall arise at the moment when the work is expressed in any objectively perceivable form.
3. Which items do not enjoy protection under the Copyright Act?
Pursuant to Section 2 (6) of the Copyright Act, the items that are not works are for example the theme (subject) of a work as such, the news of the day and any other fact as such, an idea, procedure, principle, method, discovery, scientific theory, mathematical and similar formula, statistical diagram and similar item as such.
We are often asked if it is possible to protect certain methodics or principles (such as rules of parlour games, etc.). From the aforementioned Section 2 (6) of the Copyright Act can be implied that it is not possible. If the author describes methodics in a book, the book is protected as a literary work. However methodics as such is not protected.
4. Where can I register the copyrights to my work (a novel, a computer program, etc.)?
The protection of copyright is informal - no formal requisites need to be fulfilled to obtain protection, because copyright exists from the moment, when the work is expressed in any objectively perceivable manner. It is the difference from industrial property rights (rights to inventions, trademarks, etc.), where, on the contrary, protection is subject to registration. For information about industrial property rights see website of the Industrial Property Office (www.upv.cz ).
Should a dispute on authorship arise, it is recommended that all preparatory materials be maintained (draft versions of the text, sketches, etc.). It is also possible to use service of certain agencies or a collective administrator (enter into a contract of custody; the work is to be kept by the agency in a safe) or place the work into notary custody.
5. Where can I obtain the copyright notice ©?
The © symbol, called the copyright notice or the copyright clause, has virtually no legal relevance.
Its function is merely informative.
The copyright notice in the form © name of the entity entitled to grant authorization to use the work, year of publication of the work may be stated on each copy of the work from its publication. It provides information as to whom a request for a license to use the work should be submitted. This could be the author or his heir, the employer for employee works or a publishing house if it holds an exclusive license including the right to grant sub-licenses, etc.
6. Who are the collective management organisations?
Pursuant to Section 95a of the Copyright Act,a collective management organisations are a legal entities constituted by rightholders which, on the basis of a granted authorization to collective management, exercises collective management for these rightholders as a sole or primary purpose of its activity and which is not established for the purpose of conducting business or any other profit-making activity or which is managed by its members.
On behalf of the rightholders, the collective management organisations conclude license agreements, e.g. with operators of restaurants, providers of services, organizers of music performances, etc., and collect royalties. They also collect other remuneration (e.g. levies for unrecorded media and devices payable to the rightholders in connection with private copying, remuneration for public lending, resale right´s royalty etc.).
Subsequently, the collective management organisations distribute and pay the royalties and levies to the individual rightholders according with the rules of distribution. The collective management organisations also represent foreign rightholders on the basis of reciprocal agreements with foreign partner organizations.
7. How many collective management organisations are in the Czech Republic and which rightholders do they represent?
There are six collective management organisations in the Czech Republic acting on the basis of authorizations granted by the Ministry of Culture; each of the management organisations represents certain group of rightholders with respect to certain rights.
DILIA (www.dilia.cz), an organization representing authors of literary, dramatic, dramatico-musical, choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show, as well as authors of scenic music created specifically for the use in a dramatic or choreographic work or a dumb show, as well as dubbing directors.
OSA (www.osa.cz), an organization representing authors of musical works containing text or without text, i.e. musical composers and lyricists.
INTEGRAM (www.intergram.cz), an organization representing performers and producers of
a phonogram and an audiovisual fixation.
OOA-S (www.ooas.cz), an organization representing authors of works of art, i.e. paintings, graphic works, sculptures, photographic works and works expressed by a process similar to photography, architectonic works, including urban works, as well as authors of the visual part of audio-visual works, i.e. directors of photography, architects, stage designers and other authors of the visual part of audio-visual works.
GESTOR (www.gestor.cz), an organization representing authors of works of art in enforcement of their right to compensation for resale of an original work of art.
OAZA (www.oaza.eu), an organization representing sound engineers-authors.
8. I operate a restaurant (a hotel, a hairdressers salon, a store) where I have a TV or radio set, an audio recorder and other similar devices. Do I have to pay royalties?
Yes. Pursuant to the Copyright Act, through this device, you make available works, performances of performers and phonogram or audiovisualfixation to the public. You are allowed to do so only with the consent of the rightholders (i.e. authors, performers and producers of aphonogram and anaudiovisualfixation) and subject to payment of royalties for such consent. You can obtain the consent through collective management organisations.
9. Why do I have to pay royalties for a TV or radio set located on my premises when I already pay the radio and television fees?
The radio and television fees are governed by Act No. 348/2005 Coll., on radio and television fees and amendment to certain laws, as amended, and represent, in addition to revenues from advertising, one of the two basic sources for financing of the public-service Czech Radio and Czech Television. The royalties are payable to the rightholders under Copyright Act, i.e. to authors, performers and producers of a phonogram and anaudiovisualfixation and broadcasters.
10. Why do I have to pay to two (three) collective management organisations? Does it mean that I pay several times for the same thing?
The individual collective management organisations represent different rightholders (such as writers, composers, singers, actors, producers of a phonogram and anaudiovisualfixation) who participate in the creation of copyright works, phonograms, etc. You do not pay royalties twice for the same thing; you rather pay royalties to different rightholders.
Collective administrators collect royalties on the basis of authorizations granted by the Ministry of Culture. In this case, the authorized administrators are DILIA, OSA, INTERGRAM, OOA-S and OAZA.
DILIA (www.dilia.cz), an organization representing authors of literary, dramatic, dramatico-musical, choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show, as well as authors of scenic music created specifically for the use in a dramatic or choreographic work or a dumb show, as well as dubbing directors.
OSA (www.osa.cz), an organization representing authors of musical works containing text or without text, i.e. musical composers and lyricists.
INTEGRAM (www.intergram.cz), an organization representing performing artists and producers of audio and audio-visual recordings.
OOA-S (www.ooas.cz), an organization representing authors of works of art. This administrator does not collect royalies from performer of broadcasting by radio.
OAZA (www.oaza.eu), an organization representing sound engineers-authors.
With regard to the fact, that a collective administrator may authorise the other to execute collective administration instead of him, there are three collective administrator to collect royalties at present: INTERGRAM, OSA ( authorised by DILIA and OOA-S) and OAZA.
With the entry into effect since 1.1.2018, collective management organisations OSA, INTERGRAM, DILIA, OOA-S and OAZA created through authorization ofOSA, one contact place for concluding licence agreements and payments resulting from them, for the cases of use guided under §20 and § 23 of the Copyright Act (audio devices and TV/radio devices used in public area, in particular as restaurants, bars, business and service premises or residential premises).
Based on mentioned authorization this means, that OSA is authorised for all collective management organisations, which empowered it, to conclude license agreements and collect revenues according to current tariffs of individual collective management organisations, and to divide so collected revenues to the collective management organisations, which authorised it. The public so has for the concluding license agreements and paying revenues one available associate.
Contact place for concluding license agreements is customer centre office- HavlíčkůvBrod, Nádražní 397, HavlíčkůvBrod, PSČ 580 01, tel.: + 420 220 3,15 000, email: vp@osa.cz.
11. I have a restaurant (a hairdressers salon, a store) where I have a TV or radio set. To whom do I have to pay royalties?
Provided you have TV or radio set in your premises, you are according to Section 23 of the Copyright Act a performer of TV or radio broadcasting, because through your TV or radio set works and other subjects of protection are made available to the public (your customers). You are obliged to pay royalties for such use of works to collective management organisations, who represent authors and other rightholders.
Collective administrators collect royalties on the basis of authorizations granted by the Ministry of Culture. In this case, the authorized administrators are:
DILIA (www.dilia.cz), an organization representing authors of literary, dramatic, dramatico-musical, choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show, as well as authors of scenic music created specifically for the use in a dramatic or choreographic work or a dumb show, as well as dubbing directors.
OSA (www.osa.cz), an organization representing authors of musical works containing text or without text, i.e. musical composers and lyricists.
INTEGRAM (www.intergram.cz), an organization representing performing artists and producers of audio and audio-visual recordings.
OOA-S (www.ooas.cz), an organization representing authors of works of art. This administrator does not collect royalies from performer of broadcasting by radio.
OAZA (www.oaza.eu), an organization representing sound engineers-authors.
With regard to the fact, that a collective administrator may authorise other to execute collective administration instead of him, there are currently three collective administrators to collect royalties: INTERGRAM, OSA (authorised by DILIA and OOA-S) and OAZA.
12. And to whom do I have to pay if I have TV or radio set in rooms of my hotel?
You pay royalties to the same collective management organisations as in case of performing the radio and TV broadcasting in the premisesto the collective administrator OSA.
With the entry into effect since 1.1.2018, collective management organisations OSA, INTERGRAM, DILIA, OOA-S and OAZA created through authorization of OSA, one contact place for concluding licence agreements and payments resulting from them, for the cases of use guided under §20 and § 23 of the Copyright Act (audio devices and TV/radio devices used in public area, in particular as restaurants, bars, business and service premises or residential premises).
Based on mentioned authorization this means, that OSA is authorised for all collective management organisations, which empowered it, to conclude license agreements and collect revenues according to current tariffs of individual collective management organisations, and to divide so collected revenues to the collective management organisations,who authorised it. The public so has for the concluding license agreements and paying revenues one available associate.
Contact place for concluding license agreements is customer centre office- HavlíčkůvBrod, Nádražní 397, HavlíčkůvBrod, PSČ 580 01, tel.: + 420 220 3,15 000, email: vp@osa.cz.
13. Who is collective management organisation OAZA and why do I have to pay to him?
OAZA (protecting association of sound engineers-authors) is a collective management organisation in the Czech Republic acting on the basis of authorisation granted by the Ministry of Culture issued on 15. 11. 2006 (legal force 20. 11. 2006). In conformity with this authorisation, OAZA is entitled to exercise collective management of the right of performing radio or TV broadcasting (Sec. 23) and right to performance of a work from fixation (Sec. 20).
Alike the other collective management organisations, OAZA is obliged to ensure, that contracts (including royalties) are in conformity with Section 98e (2) and (3) of the Copyright Act, and conclude contracts with the users of works on reasonable and equal terms. In addition, a collective management organisation is obliged to follow the procedure for negotiating certain tariffs in compliance with Section 98f of the Copyright Act.
14. What is a system of levies and why do I have to pay to authors for every blank record carrier, even if I do not want to copy protected works?
The system of levies is enacted in Sec. 25 of the Copyright Act. At present, this system has been adopted with certain modifications in majority of EuropeanUnion memberstates. Due to the fact, that modern techniques of reproduction reached very high level of quality and accessibility, it became impossible to control every single copying (downloading, recording) of works and other protected items. The system of levies provides for the possibility to make free copies without the consent of rightholders but only for personal use (for yourself, family members, closest friends) and rightholders are compensated for it by obtaining levies. Levies are collected from importers (producers) of blank record carriers and devices for copying. Subsequently, levies are to be distributed to the rightholders (authors, musicians, actors, producers of audiovisual fixations, publishers) by the collective management organisations. Levies are not any sort of a tax, nor a sanction for a piracy, because this case does not constitute piracy (in contrast to peer to peer networks associated with the current offer of one owns downloaded records). From the point of view of involved parties, levies are only “approximate justification”, which guarantee certain financial compensation to the creators and investors in artistic and scientific creativity for guaranteed possibility of lawful reproduction of creativity outcome for personal use of anyone interested.
