Afghanistan and copyright issues

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Since 2008 copyright in Afghanistan has been governed by the law on the support the right of authors, composers, artists and researchers (Copy Right Law). [1]

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International agreements

In 1958, Afghanistan ratified the Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials, with Annexes A to E and Protocol annexed (Florence, 17 June 1950). In 1979, it accepted the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (Paris, 14 November 1970) and in 2005 it ratified the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris, 16 November 1972). [2] It acceded to the WIPO treaty on 13 September 2005, which came into action at the end of the year. [3] [4]

In November 2003, the Copyright World journal reported that a group, Intellectual Property Working Group of the Afghanistan Transitional Commercial Law Project, had been working on setting up the first patent or copyright system for the country, and updating its trademark laws. It is a joint project of Center for International Management Education (CIME) and the American Bar Association's "Asia Law Initiative" (ABA-Asia). [5]

Afghanistan joined the WTO in 2016. [6] Since 2 June 2018 the Berne Convention is in effect in Afghanistan. [7]

Relations with the United States

As of 2005, Afghanistan has no official copyright relations with the United States, [8] resulting in works published in Afghanistan not being copyrighted in the United States, and vice versa. [9]

In October 2007, the US Department of Commerce and the Afghanistan Ministry of Commerce and Industry signed a joint agreement to establish a forum for commercial cooperation including establishing intellectual property rights protection and enforcement. [10]

Since joining the WTO in 2016, Afghanistan works are automatically restored in the U.S. 17 U.S.C Section 104A. To determine which are eligible, an individual must look to Afghanistan law at the time that they joined the WTO or Berne, whichever is older. Only works still under copyright are eligible. For Afghanistan, the term of copyright is life plus 50 for individual and joint works, and for paintings, photographs, and audiovisual works the term is 50 years from first publication.

That means that works whose authors died before 1972 are not restored in the U.S., and paintings, photographs, and audiovisual works published before 1972 are not restored.

The term for restored works? For works published before 1978: the term is 95 years from publication. 17 U.S.C. Section 304. For all other works (published on or after Jan 1, 1978 and unpublished works), the term is life of the author plus seventy years, or 95/120 for anonymous and work for hire. 17 U.S.C. Section 302.

RTA incident

In 2005, Deputy-Minister of Information and Culture Saied Aqa Husain Sancharaki stated that a copyright law was forthcoming, which prompted the National Independent Commission for Radio and Television Broadcasting to circulate a statement requesting that media outlets either pay royalties or cease distributing material that had been created by Radio Television Afghanistan as the outlet began transforming to a public broadcaster. It was later pointed out that RTA had no right to make such an autonomous declaration. [11] [12]

The move was criticised by the heads of Ayna TV and Tolo TV, who argued that the cost of royalties meant that potential independent media outlets could not afford to broadcast, and the lack of independent media in the country meant broadcasters relied on RTA footage to play "a significant cultural role...filling this void". The act contradicted the ministry's edict to "promote national culture and traditions" by outlawing the broadcast of the majority of the country's traditional films, music and programming. [11]

Trademarks

Trademarks and service marks are both registered for renewable ten-year terms through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Afghanistan, which has adopted the 8th edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copyright</span> Legal concept regulating rights of a creative work

A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself. A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States and fair dealings doctrine in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WIPO Copyright Treaty</span>

The World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty is an international treaty on copyright law adopted by the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996. It provides additional protections for copyright to respond to advances in information technology since the formation of previous copyright treaties before it. As of August 2023, the treaty has 115 contracting parties. The WCT and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, are together termed WIPO "internet treaties".

The copyright law of the European Union is the copyright law applicable within the European Union. Copyright law is largely harmonized in the Union, although country to country differences exist. The body of law was implemented in the EU through a number of directives, which the member states need to enact into their national law. The main copyright directives are the Copyright Term Directive 2006, the Information Society Directive and the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. Copyright in the Union is furthermore dependent on international conventions to which the European Union or their member states are part of, such as TRIPS Agreement or the Berne Convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buenos Aires Convention</span> 1910 North American multi-lateral agreement regarding copyrights

The Buenos Aires Convention is an international copyright treaty signed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 11 August 1910, providing mutual recognition of copyrights where the work carries a notice containing a statement of reservation of rights (Art. 3). This was commonly done with the phrase "All rights reserved" next to the copyright notice. This implementation varied as US law only required the author and year of publishing. Copyright protection under the convention is granted for the shorter of the terms of the protecting country and the source country of the work. The rather vague nature of the requirement for a statement of reservation led to the development of longer and more legalistic wordings, which have persisted despite the developments in international copyright law.

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been acknowledged and protected in China since 1980. China has acceded to the major international conventions on protection of rights to intellectual property. Domestically, protection of intellectual property law has also been established by government legislation, administrative regulations, and decrees in the areas of trademark, copyright, and patent.

The Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations also known as the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations and the Rome Convention, secures protection in performances for performers, in phonograms for producers of phonograms and in broadcasts for broadcasting organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uruguay Round Agreements Act</span> US free trade law with implications for intellectual property

The Uruguay Round Agreements Act is an Act of Congress in the United States that implemented in U.S. law the Marrakesh Agreement of 1994. The Marrakesh Agreement was part of the Uruguay Round of negotiations which transformed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) into the World Trade Organization (WTO). One of its effects is to give United States copyright protection to foreign works that had previously been in the public domain in the United States.

The copyright symbol, or copyright sign, ©, is the symbol used in copyright notices for works other than sound recordings. The use of the symbol is described by the Universal Copyright Convention. The symbol is widely recognized but, under the Berne Convention, is no longer required in most nations to assert a new copyright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Related rights</span> Intellectual property rights of a creative work not connected with the works actual author

In copyright law, related rights are the rights of a creative work not connected with the work's actual author. It is used in opposition to the term "authors' rights". Neighbouring rights is a more literal translation of the original French droits voisins. Both authors' rights and related rights are copyrights in the sense of English or U.S. law.

According to Circular 38a of the U.S. Copyright Office, Iran has no official copyright relations whatsoever with the United States.

Copyright in Russia developed originally along the same lines as in Western European countries. A first copyright statute dated back to 1828, and in 1857, a general copyright term of fifty years was instituted. The copyright law of 1911 was inspired by Western laws of the continental European tradition. One noteworthy exception in Russian copyright law was the "freedom of translation"—any work could be freely translated into another language.

The rule of the shorter term, also called the comparison of terms, is a provision in international copyright treaties. The provision allows that signatory countries can limit the duration of copyright they grant to foreign works under national treatment to no more than the copyright term granted in the country of origin of the work.

The current Copyright law of the Russian Federation is codified in part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. It entered in force on January 1, 2008.

The international copyright relations of Russia were virtually non-existent for much of the Imperial era continuing into the history of the Soviet Union until the Cold War. The Russian Empire had only a few bilateral copyright treaties with other nations were concluded; these treaties moreover were weak and of short duration. The treaties from Imperial times had all expired by the time of the Russian Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berne Convention</span> 1886 international assembly and treaty

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Berne by ten European countries with the goal of agreeing on a set of legal principles for the protection of original work. They drafted and adopted a multi-party contract containing agreements for a uniform, border-crossing system that became known under the same name. Its rules have been updated many times since then. The treaty provides authors, musicians, poets, painters, and other creators with the means to control how their works are used, by whom, and on what terms. In some jurisdictions these type of rights are referred to as copyright; on the European continent they are generally referred to as authors' rights or makerright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intellectual property in Iran</span>

Iran is a member of the WIPO since 2001 and has acceded to several WIPO intellectual property treaties. Iran joined the Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1959. In December 2003 Iran became a party to the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks. In 2005 Iran joined the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, which ensures the protection of geographical names associated with products. As at February 2008 Iran had yet to accede to The Hague Agreement for the Protection of Industrial Designs.

Copyright in Oman is regulated by the Law for the Protection of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights issued by Royal Decree No 65/2008 which was later amended by Royal Decree No 132/2008.

References

  1. "Afghanistan: Law Supporting the Rights of Authors, Composers, Artists and Researchers (Copyright Law)". Wipo.int. Retrieved 25 October 2017. This is still the law as of 2022.
  2. "Ratified and non Ratified conventions by country". UNESCO . Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  3. "Rouse - Consultancy, Brand Protection & Enforcement". rouse.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2008.
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-01. Retrieved 2007-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "The clean slate : Drafting Afghanistan's first copyright laws". Copyright World: 22–25. November 2003. Archived from the original on 2007-12-01.
  6. "Circular 38A International Copyright Relations of the United States" (PDF). www.copyright.gov. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  7. "Berne Notification No. 279, Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Accession by the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan". WIPO. 2018-03-02. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  8. International Copyright Relations of the United States  . U.S. Copyright Office.
  9. see 17 U.S.C.   § 104
  10. "U.S. Department of Commerce and the Afghanistan Ministry of Commerce and Industry Joint Statement on Commercial Cooperation" (PDF). 2007-10-07. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  11. 1 2 "The National Independent Commission for Radio and Television Broadcasting involves itself in copyright regulation". Internews Newsletter on Freedom of Journalism in Afghanistan (8). December 2005. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21.
  12. "Training workshop on Copy Right held by the National TV and ABU". Internews Newsletter on Freedom of Journalism in Afghanistan (15). October 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21.
  13. "Overview of Trademarks in Afghanistan". www.lafafsi.com. Archived from the original on November 10, 2006.