Law No. 7564 of of May 19, 1992, on Copyright, Albania

Chapter 1 The Protection of Copyright

1. This law protects the literary, artistic, public and other works (hereinafter referred to as “works”), including any original intellectual creation of this nature, regardless of their form of expression as:

(a)

written works including computer programs;

(b)

lectures, addresses, sermons and other orally expressed works;

(c)

musical works with or without accompanying text;

(d)

dramatic or dramaticomusical works; (dh) audiovisual works;

(e)

choreographic works and pantomimes;

(f)

works of fine arts: drawings, paintings, sculptures, engravings and lithography;

(g)

architectonic works;

(h)

photographic works;

(i)

works of applied art;

(j) illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and threedimensional works related to geography, topography, architecture and science.

The protection does not depend in the manner and form of expression, quality or aim of the work.

The protection shall not extend to ideas, procedures, processes, systems, ways of action, concepts, expressed principles or discoveries, which are foreseen and explained in the work.

Derived Works and Collections

2. The same protection as to the works is applied to:

(a)

translations, adaptations, arrangements, and other alterations of works and folkloric materials;

(b)

collections of works, popular sayings or data and facts as encyclopedias, anthologies and other sources of data which, by reason of the selection and arrangement of their contents constitute original creations.

Protection of the works defined in the first paragraph is applied without prejudice to the copyright of the original works, which are used then for the protection of the derived works;

3. The protection provided by this law for the literary and artistic works, shall not apply to:

(a) summaries of the official gazette of legislative and administrative nature and their official translations;

(b)

popular sayings;

(c)

news of the day;

(d)

miscellaneous facts and data.

Chapter II
Rights Which Enjoy Protection

Moral Rights of the Author

4. The author of the work in addition to the economic rights defined by Article 5 of this law, even if they have been transferred by his desire (sic), has the right to:

(a)

claim authorship of the work, especially the right to write his name on the copies of the work. When allowed by practice and in conformity with the tradition, his name may accompany his work mentioned in public.

(b) remain anonymous or use a pseudonym

(c)

object to any distortion, mutilation or modification and to other derogatory action in relation to his work, which would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation;

(d)

object the joint authorship put in an arbitrary way from other persons because of different reasons.

(Hereinafter, the rights provided for in this article will be referred to as “moral rights”).

Economic Rights of the Author

5. The author shall have the exclusive right of authorizing:

(a) the reproduction of the work;

(b) the import of the work within the country with the purpose of its distribution (selling, leasing renting, loaning) for/to the public;

(c)

the translation of the work;

(d)

the preparation of adaptations, alterations or other alterations of the work;

(e)

the public recitation of the work;

(f)

the communication of the work to the public by broadcasting and rebroadcasting;

(g)

the communication of the work to the public by wire or other means;

The author of an audiovisual work, or any other work like phonograms, computer programs, data base, and of any other work readable in machine, has the exclusive right to authorize giving on lease of his work.

(Hereinafter the rights mentioned in this article will be referred to as “economic rights”).

Chapter III
Limitations of the Economic Rights

Free Reproduction for Personal Use

6. Reproduction of a published work without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration, according to the laws, is allowed only for personal use (use for research and scientific purposes included).

The first paragraph is not applicable for:

(a) the reproduction of architectural works in terms of a building or other constructions;

(b)

the reprographic reproduction of fine arts works published (sic) in limited copies, the graphic presentation of musical works, notebooks or other publications, which are meant for a single use purpose;

(c) the reproduction of computer programs, excluding what provided for in Article 13;

(d)

any other reproduction which would come against the process of work employment or would damage the legitime interest of the author.

Free Reproduction in the Form of Citation

7. It is permitted, without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration, the citing, according to the law, of a published work in another work under the condition that in the citation must be included the source and author’s name, if it is in the original work. The citing has to be honest, correct and it must not exceed the context of its original use.

Free Usage for Teaching

8. It is permitted the free usage of a work for teaching, without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration, upon the condition that in the citation must be included the source and author’s name, if it is in the original work. It is permitted to:

(a)

use a published work, according to the law, for illustrations in publications, broadcasts or sound or visual recordings for teaching;

(b)

reproduce, my means of reprography, special articles published according to the law in a newspaper or magazine; to reproduce written pieces taken out of a published work according to the law, or a short full work published according to the law, for the purpose of teaching or for the period of the exams in educational institutions. The activity of these institution must not bear any direct or indirect profit purpose and the use of the work must be always honest.

Free Reproduction from Libraries and Archives

9. The reproduction from a library or archive, which activity does not bear any direct or indirect profit purposes, is permitted without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration. The copy under discussion belongs then to the fund of the library’s archives with the purpose of:

(a) storing and if necessary (in case of loss or overuse) replacing the work itself;

(b) replacing of a copy (lost, damaged or overused) for the permanent fund of another library or archive.

These procedures can take place if it is not possible to buy an original copy for a long period of time and under reasonable conditions.

Free Reproduction for Legal and Administrative Purposes

10. The reproduction of a work is permitted, without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration, for the purpose of using it in a court case or in other administrative processes within a reasonable required extend.

Free Use for the Purpose of Giving Information

11. It is permitted without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration but the obligatory citing (mentioning) the source and the author’s name if it is in the original work:

(a)

the reproduction and distribution by the press, the broadcasting or the communication to the public by wire of any article published in newspapers or magazines treating an economic, political or religious issue or of any other broadcast work, if the right of reproduction, broadcast or any other similar communication to the public is not expressly limited;

(b)

the reproduction and offering to the public, in case of news on current events, of a work seen or heard during that event, by means of photography, cinematography, broadcasting or communication to the public by wire, without exceeding the informatory purpose;

(c)

the reproduction by the press, broadcast or by other mass media means of political speeches, lectures, reports, sermons and of other works similar to them, held on public places, as well as the speeches held during legal proceedings, when all these have an informatory purpose (hence not exceeding this informatory purpose). The authors of these works have the right to publish works summaries.

Free Use of Pictures of Publicly Exposed Works

12. It is allowed without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration the reproduction, broadcasting or the communication to the public by wire of a picture of an architectonic work, of a fine arts work, photographic work or applied arts work placed in a public area, excluding the cases when the picture is the main theme of the reproduction, broadcasting or communication and when it is used for commercial purposes.

Free Reproduction and Adaptation for Computer Programs

13. The legal owner of a computer program is permitted, without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration, to make a copy or adaptation of such a program, if this copy or adaptation is:

(a)

indispensable for the usage of the computer program and for the purpose the program is legally obtained;

(b)

used for archives and if necessary (in case of lost, damage or overuse) to replace the legally obtained copy.

The copy or the adaptation provided for in the first paragraph is destroyed in cases when the ownership of the copies of the computer programs is no more legal.

Free Use of Computer Programmes

14. The author’s approval is not obligatory if the reproduction of the code and the adaptation (“translation”) are necessary to get the required data for the interaction of a computer program which is created independently of the other programs. The reproduction can be made upon the following conditions:

(a)

when this action is done by means of a license, by another person who has the right to use the copy of the program or by any authorized person;

(b)

when the necessary data for interaction are not previously given to the persons mentioned in paragraph “a”;

(c)

when these actions are limited in those parts of the original program which are indispensable for the creation of the interaction capacity.

The use of the following data is prohibited because of the provisions of the first paragraph:

(a)

for a purpose different from that of interacting capacity of the computer program created in an independent way;

(b)

for giving them over to third parties, except for the cases when this is indispensable for the interacting capacity of the computer created in an independent way;

(c)

for the development, production and handing over of a similar computer program concerning the way of expression or for any other purpose which violates the copyright.

The provisions of this article must not be interpreted in such a way that causes its applications to come contrary to the normal use of the computer program, or infringes the legitimate rights of the author.

Free Temporary Recording by Broadcasting Organizations

1. A broadcasting organization can record for temporary use, by its own means, a work on which it enjoys this right without the author’s approval and without special remuneration. This agency is obliged to destroy this recording within six months from the day of recording it, except when there is an agreement with the author for longer terms. However, a recording of this kind may be stored in official archives even without an agreement, if it has special historical or documenting values.
2. It is permitted without the author’s approval and without payment or remuneration the public performance of a work during the activity of a school institution, prepared by the staff, if the audience is simply the staff and the students of that institution, the parents or tutors of the students, as well as other people who have a direct relation to the institution.

The Free Public Performance

Chapter IV
Term of Protection

Term of Protection

17. Unless otherwise provided in this chapter, the moral rights of a work are protected forever and the economic rights of a work are protected during the whole author’s life and 70 years after his/her death.¹

Term of Protection of Anonymous or Pseudonymous Works

18.² The moral and economic rights of an anonymous or pseudonymous work are protected for 70 years from the first day of the first legal publication of the work. If the identity of the author is disclosed before the expiration of the term, the provisions of Article 17 and 18 are applied, according to the case.

Term of Protection of Photographic and Audiovisual Works of Joint Authorship

19.³ The moral and economic rights of a photographic or audiovisual work of joint authorship are protected for 70 years from the day this work is legally offered to the public or in a contrary case, for 70 years from the day of the production of the work, i.e. 70 years after its creation.

Term of Protection of Works of Applied Art

20. The moral and economic rights of works of applied art are protected for 25 years from the day of its production.

Calculation of the Terms

21. The term provided by this Chapter lasts to the end of a calendar year.

Chapter V
The Ownership of the Copyright

The Ownership of the Copyright

22. The author of a work is the first owner of the moral and economic rights on his work.

The Ownership of the Copyright on Works of Joint Authorship

23. The coauthors of a work of joint authorship are the first coowners of the moral and economic rights of this work. But, if this work can be divided into parts (i.e. if its parts can be reproduced, stored or used separately), the coauthors have the independent rights for these parts of the work, maintaining the coownership of the rights for the common work.

The Ownership of the Copyright on Collective Works

24. The owner of the moral and economic rights of a collective work will be the physical person or the legal entity on whose initiative and direction the work was created and whose name appears as the author of the work.

The Ownership of the Copyright on the Works Created on an Employment Contractual Basis

25. If the work is created by an author for a physical person or a legal entity (hereinafter referred to as “employer”) on an employment contractual basis and during employment period, the first owner of the moral and economic rights will be the author, unless the contract provides otherwise. The economic rights of such a work will be considered transferred to the employer at the required extent for the proper activities that the employer accomplishes at the time the work is created.

Ownership of the Copyright for Audiovisual Works

26.⁴ The producer of the audiovisual work will be the natural or juridical person that undertake the initiative to create the work.

The contract between the producer and the compositor and the others authors of an audiovisual work provides for the transfer to the producer of the right to use of the audiovisual work, without prejudice to the moral and economic rights of the author.

The audiovisual work is considered finished when the final version is decided upon agreement between the author or coauthors and the producer.

The remuneration of the authors for the use of the work is made according to the circumstances and manners of usage.

Obtaining the Authorship

27. In order that the author of a work is recognized to be as such, and consequently to have the right to make a legal complaint in case of procedure violation, in lack of contrary facts, it will be enough that his name appears in the work in the usual way.

In case of an anonymous or pseudonymous work, the editor, whose name appears in the work has the responsibility to represent the author, and when there are no contrary facts, he has the right to protect the author and ask the enforcement of the author’s right. This paragraph is not valid when the author discloses his identity and proves the claim on the work’s authorship.

Presuming of the Producer’s Right

28. The natural or juridical person, whose name appears on an audiovisual work as the producer of this work, will be considered the producer of such a work if there are no facts to contradict this.

Chapter VI
Transferring of the Rights and the Licenses

Transferring of the Rights

29. Transferring the economic rights can be done by assignment between the living people, by provisions of legal heritage or by will.

Moral rights can not be transferred between living people, but can be transferred by provisions of legal heritage or by will.

Licenses

30. The author of a work may issue a license to third persons to perform activities which are included in his economic rights. These licenses may be exclusive or nonexclusive.

The nonexclusive license enables the licensee the right to perform activities related to the author and to other licensees according to the rules.

Exclusive license enables the licensee the right to perform activities which exclude others, even of the author itself, according to the rules.

No license can be considered as a nonexclusive one apart from cases when it is expressly defined in the contract between the licensee and the author.

Form of Contracts for Transfers and Licenses

31. Contracts for transferring the economic rights as well as the exclusive licenses, for performing activities included in the economic rights, are made in a written form.

Purpose of Transfers and Licenses

32. The transfer of the economic rights and licenses, for performing activities included in the economic rights, can be limited to the performance of some specific activities as well as to the time period, purpose, territorial extension, width and the ways and means of usage.

The fact that the name of the territory in which the economic rights are transferred or the license is given to act according to the economic rights, is not mentioned is considered as a limitation of the transfer or the license within the territory in which the transfer is made.

The fact that the extension, ways and means of usage for which the transfer of the economic rights is made or the license to act according to the economic rights is granted, is not mentioned, is considered a limitation of the transfer or the license to the extension, ways and means of usage, that are necessary for the provided purpose at the time when the right of transfer or the license is granted.

The Alienation of the Original Work or its Copies.
Transfers and Licenses Concerning the Copyright of these Works

33. When the author alienates the original or a copy of his work, it is not considered that the economic rights and the grant of a license for performing activities included in the economic rights are transferred too, unless it is provided otherwise by the contract.

Despite the first paragraph, the legitimate buyer of an original work or its copy, has the right to expose the original work or its copy directly to the public, unless the contract provides otherwise.

The privilege defined in the second paragraph does not include the persons who possess the original works or their copies because of a rent, lease or other ways, without being the owners of the original work or of its copy.