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SALIENT PROVISIONS OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES
COPYRIGHT IN GENERAL (Section 177)
Copyright is a bundle of exclusive economic rights vested in the owner of a literary,
dramatic, artistic, musical or scientific work.
Per Section 177 of Republic Act No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property
Code of the Philippines, copyright or economic rights shall consist of the exclusive
right to carry out, authorize or prevent the following acts:
a) reproduction of the work or substantial portion of the work;
b) dramatization, translation, adaptation, abridgment, arrangement or other transformation
of the work;
c) the first public distribution of the original and each copy of the work by sale
or other forms of transfer of ownership;
d) rental of the original or a copy of an audiovisual or cinematographic work, a
work embodied in a sound recording, a computer program, a compilation of data and
other materials or a musical work in graphic form, irrespective of the ownership
of the original or the copy which is the subject of the rental;
e) public display of the original or a copy of the work;
f) public performance of the work; and g) other communication to the public of the
work.
ORIGINAL WORKS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT (Section 172)
Literary, scholarly, scientific, and artistic works which are original intellectual
creations are protected from the moment of their creation. Among these works protected
ar musical compositions, with our without words.
Literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works are protected by the sole fact
of their creation, irrespective of their mode or form of expression, as well as
their content, quality and purpose.
DERIVATIVE WORKS (Section 173)
Derivative works such as dramatizations, translations, adaptations, abridgements,
arrangements, and other alterations of literary or artistic works or collections
of literary, scholarly or artistic works, and compilations of data and other materials
which are original by reason of the selection or coordination or arrangement of
their contents are also protected by copyright.
Derivative works are protected as new works provided that such new works do not
affect the force of any subsisting copyright upon the original works employed.
OWNERSHIP OF COPYRIGHT (Section 178)
There is no registration or other formality required in the Philippines to enjoy
copyright protection. Under Republic Act No. 8293, copyright is acquired and subsists
from the moment of creation of work, and may only be lost in the manner specifically
provided by law, that is, on expiration of the period of protection or a transfer
of the copyright made in accordance with statutory provisions.
The creator of the work or his heirs or assigns owns the copyright to a work. If
a work is produced by two or more persons, the copyright shall belong to them jointly
and their respective rights shall be governed by the rules of the Civil Code on
co-ownership.
However, where the work is written by a creator as an employee in the course of
performing his regularly assigned duties, the employer is regarded as the legal
author of the work unless there is an agreement, express or implied, to the contrary.
On the other hand, where the creation of the work is not part of his regular duties,
the employee is regarded as the owner of the work even if he uses the time, facilities
and materials of the employer.
Where the works is commissioned by a person who is not the employer or the creator
and who pays or agrees to pay for it and the work is made in pursuance of the commission,
the person who so commissioned the work shall have ownership of the work but the
copyright thereto shall remain with the creator, unless there is a written stipulation
to the contrary.
TRANSFER OR ASSIGNMENT OF COPYRIGHT (Section 180)
The copyright may be assigned in whole or in part through a written instrument executed
by the copyright owner (also known as “assignor”) in favor of another person or
persons (known as the “assignee”). Within the scope of the assignment, the assignee
is entitled to all the rights and remedies which the assignor had with respect to
the copyright.
Copyright should be distinguished from the material property or original literary
or artistic work which is the subject of the copyright. Transfer or assignment of
copyright shall not constitute a physical transfer of the literary or artistic work.
Conversely, the transfer or assignment of the copy of the literary or artistic work
shall not imply transfer or assignment of copyright.
The copyright owners or their heirs may designate
a society of artists, writers or composers to enforce their economic rights and
moral rights on their behalf.
MORAL RIGHTS (Section 193)
Moral rights are separate and independent from copyright or economic rights, as
well s the grand of an assignment or license with respect to economic rights.
Moral rights empower the author of the original literary and artistic work to:
1. Require that the authorship of the work be attributed to him, and in particular,
to indicate his name, as far as practicable, in a prominent way on the copies, and
in connection with the public use of his work;
2. Make any alteration of his work prior to, or to withhold it from publication;
3. Object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory
action in relation to, his work which would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation;
and
4. Restrain the use of his name with respect to any work not of his own creation
or in a distorted version of his work.
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