Law No. 7564, dated May19, 1992, on Copyright
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Articles
| Acts which Regulate the Operation of the Agency ....... | 42 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admissions in the Agency ............................................ | 43 | |||||||
| Setting Tariffs ............................................................... | 44 | |||||||
| Criteria for Managing Revenues ................................... | 45 | |||||||
| Functions of Agencies of Authors................................. | 46 | |||||||
| Guarantees for Running the Agencies of Authors......... | 47 | |||||||
| The | Common | Administration | of | the | Rights | for | ||
| Performances, Phonograms and Programs .................... | 48 | |||||||
| Position of Foreign Authors .......................................... | 49 | |||||||
| Chapter IX: | Measures and Sanctions in Case of Violation of the | |||||||
| Rights Defined by this Law........................................... | 50 | |||||||
| Chapter X: | General Provisions | |||||||
| Field of Application ...................................................... | 51 | |||||||
| SubLegal Acts for the Implementation of the Law ...... | 52 | |||||||
| [Without Title] .............................................................. | 53 | |||||||
| [Without Title] .............................................................. | 54 | |||||||
Based on Article 16 of Law No. 7491, dated 29.04.1991 “For the Main Constitutional Provisions”, upon the proposal of the Council of Ministers,
DECIDED
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:
(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:
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;
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:
(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;
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”).
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;
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:
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:
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:
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:
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
The Free Public Performance
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.
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.
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.
Acts Requiring the Authorization of the Performers
34. No one can undertake the following acts without the authorization of the performers:
The provisions of the first and second paragraph, letters ‘c’ and ‘d’ are not applicable from the moment that the performers give the authorization to include their performance in a visual and audiovisual fixation.
None of the paragraphs of this article takes off the right of the performers to sign contracts in more favorable conditions for their performances.
The term of protection provided for in the article lasts for 50 years, starting from the end of the year in which the performance took place
Acts Requiring the Authorization of the Producers of Phonograms
35. Without the authorization of the producers of phonograms no one can;
The term of protection provided for in the first paragraph lasts for 50 years, starting from the end of the year, in which of the phonogram was produced for the first time.
Remuneration for the Production of Phonograms
36. If a phonogram published for commercial purposes, or its reproduction, is directly used for the broadcasting or the communication to the public, the user pays to the producer a remuneration, upon agreement, for the performers and the producers of the phonogram.
If there is no agreement between the performers and the producer, then the half of the remuneration the producer has been given, shall go to the performers by the producer.
The obligation for a remuneration, as provided in this article, ends up in 50 years, starting from the end of the year in which the phonogram was for the first time produced.
Acts Requiring the Authorization of the Broadcasting Organizations
37. No one can undertake the following acts without the authorization of the broadcasting organizations:
As provided in this Article, protection ends up in 50 years, starting from the end of the year, in which the broadcasting took place.
Limitations on the Protection
38. Articles 35, 36 and 37 of this law are not applied when acts provided by these articles are undertaken;
Signs for the Protection of the Phonograms
39. As a condition for the protection of the phonograms provided for by Articles 35, 36 of this law, all the copies of the published phonograms and their packages must bear the sign “P” (which must be circled), accompanied by the date and the year of the first publication, with the purpose of making known that it is a protected production. If the copies or their packages does not identify the producer or the buyer of the patent, by giving the name, the production mark or other notes, then the name of the holder of the rights of the productions must be included in the notes. When the copies or their packages do not identify the main performers, the notes then must include the name of the person who has the right of the authorship of these performers, as provided by this law.
Field of Application
40. The protection of the performers as provided by Articles 35 and 36 of this law is applicable when:
The protections of phonograms provided by Article 36 and 37 is applicable when:
This law is applied also for performances, phonograms and programs which must be protected in accordance with the conventions on which Albania adheres.
The Agencies for the Protection of Copyright
41.5 The authors may protect their rights themselves. When they can not exercise these rights themselves, they have the right to found agencies for the protection of their rights in a collective way. The agencies of authors are private companies of partners which do not have commercial aims and operation of which is guided by a statute and the general regulations. The agencies are created according to the branches of art.
Acts which Regulate the Operation of the Agency
42.6 The agencies operate in accordance with this law, other legal and sublegal acts as well as with their own statutes and regulations approved by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports.
Admissions in the Agency
43.7 The agencies accept for cooperation between all the branches of art all the authors, their heirs, producers of records, cassettes or films and those who bear the authorship.
The prerogative attributes of the agencies are determined by open voting in the General Assembly, which functions as defined by its own statute and general regulations, prepared by the agencies and approved by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports.
Setting Tariffs
44.8—(1) The tariffs for the users of the artistic property on the part of budgetary or nonbudgetary institutions are regulated by Law No. 7581, dated 7.7.1992 “On Prices and Tariffs” or by contracts between the users and the collective agencies founded according to the branches of art.
Users of the intellectual property in the field of art and culture, budgetary or nonbudgetary, within 15 December of each previous year are require to enter into contract with agencies of authors, to determine obligations of parties and tariffs that should be paid such agencies of authors for next year.
The use of literary works without contract and without the authorization of the agencies of authors is a infringement of copyright and entails penal responsibility.
(2) Tariffs for distribution are set after discussions between authors and commissions and after approval by the administrative board of the agencies of authors.
Criteria for Managing Revenues
45.9 Agencies are required to manage strictly equally all rights provided to them. They respect the principle that any member should take his portion which belongs to him from the use of his work.
Such remuneration is distributed each year, each six or three months for each author or coauthor.
The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports supervises the agencies. The authorized representatives of the Minister attend the meetings of the agencies and intervene only in case of infringement of the normative acts that regulate their activity.
Functions of Agencies of Authors
46.10 The agencies of authors have the following functions:
Guarantees for Running the Agencies of Authors
47.11 The administration of the rights as provided by in the Article 46 must not restrict the exclusive economic rights administered by the agencies of authors. In order to guarantee and prevent such restrictions, all decisions for methods and rules of collecting and distributing remuneration, as well as for other important aspects of administrative actions of agencies are taken by authors who are protected by agencies.
The authors whose rights are administered by the agencies, are provided with regular, full, and detailed information on the activity of their agency, for exercising their rights.
Without the authorization of the authors, whose rights are administered directly or through their representatives, no remuneration collected by the agency of authors can be used for other purposes, except purposes relating to covering actual overhead cost of rights in question and distributing the remaining portion of remuneration after the cost mentioned above is deducted.
The amount of the remuneration collected by the agency of authors, after deduction of the actual overhead cost, profit tax according to the appropriate law and other possible deductions that the authors themselves authorize, is distributed to the authors in a just ratio with the actual use of their works.
The Common Administration of the Rights for Performances,
Phonograms and Programs
48. The rights of performance, phonograms and programs mentioned in the Chapter VII (Articles 42 and 47) will be applied mutatis mutandis.
Position of Foreign Authors
49. The works of the foreign authors are protected by the dispositions of this law and the international conventions to which the Republic of Albania adheres.
50. The authors or the persons who are enjoying their rights on a work according to this law are entitled to challenge at the court if they are hindered in exercising these rights or they record that someone else in using them unjustly.
The court considers the case on the basis of norms defined in this law and decides on the moral and economic rights of the work.
After the challenge made by the agency of authors or by any of their associations against the person who has made use of the moral and economic rights of the work created in the sense of this law, the penal case starts according to the provisions defined in the Penal Code.
The penal case stops upon the request of the author of the work.
Field of Application
51.12 The provisions of this act refer to:
(a) works of the authors who have Albanian citizenship or live permanently in Albania;
SubLegal Acts for the Implementation of the Law
52. The Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the Committee of Science and Technique and the Ministry of Education are in charged to issue the instructions and the respective regulations to the implementation of this law.
Proclaimed by decree No. 192, dated 23.05.1992 of the President of the Republic of Albania, Sali Berisha.
1
As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
2 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
3 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1950, Fletorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
4 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
5 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
6 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
7 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
8 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
9 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
10 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
11 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.
12 As changed by Law No. 7923 “For Some Changes to Law No. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On Copyright” (Approved on 19.04.1995), Fetorja Zyrtare 1995, Vol. 11, page 454.