In the present rushed age, it’s tempting for someone to use your piece of work without your permission. However, before you take legal action, you ought to familiarize yourself with who is actually deemed an author in Czechia, what particular rights they have here, and how they may effectively protect them. This article answers all such questions.
A copyright protects creative work and the creators’ rights for a period of time defined by the law. Only the author has the right to decide how their work is to be used, whether it be sale, lending, rental, exhibition, or another use.
As far as software, film and music are concerned, the copyright laws don’t keep up with the present days, when pieces of work are easily digitalized and anonymously shared via the Internet. For that reason, a number of alternatives to a copyright have appeared that are commonly referred to as Copyleft and are marked with the phrase “some rights reserved” instead of “all rights reserved.” With software, you might be familiar with GNU or GPL Copyleft licences, while Creative Commons has become widespread with other creative works. These licences allow for publishing a piece of work (eventually their editing as well) under the conditions set by the author.
The work must be a unique outcome of the author’s creative activity, i.e., the result of creativity, not plagiarism. At the same time, it must come in an objectively perceivable form, that is, an idea itself doesn’t suffice. Electronic forms, on the other hand, are acceptable.
We’ll make sure that any and all rights you have as a copyright holder are protected, or that you don’t infringe on a copyright unwittingly. There’s no need to visit us, as we manage all communication online or via the phone. Your licence agreement can be ready in no more than two days.
Tip: Copyright extends to both a complete piece of work and its phases or parts, including its title and character names.
Unlike the Anglo-American conception, where a legal person may become an author, only physical persons are deemed creative in the Czech Republic. The natural person who created the work becomes its author. Naturally, the law takes into account that they may be unknown or that the work was created by several people:
In order to use a jointly-owned work, the permission of all its co-authors is required regardless of to what extent they contributed to its creation. If one of the co-authors groundlessly rejects the use of their work, the others may take the matter to the court, seeking to substitute the missing consent with its judgement.
Upon creating a piece of work, its author gains the rights defined in the Copyright Act. These are divided into economic and moral rights.
Economic rights entitle the author to exclusively decide about further use of their work. No other person may use it in any way without their permission. However, the author may grant a licence to use their work. The economic rights apply during the author’s whole life, plus an additional 70 years after their death.
An interesting detail regarding copyright economic rights: With an audio-visual piece of work, the 70-year period begins on the day the last of the following persons becomes deceased: the director, screenplay writer, music composer.
Your Attorneys Online advise: In our practice, we often deal with situations when our client is approached by the holder of copyright economic rights to, e.g., a photo that the client used on their website. In such a case, the claim to licence fee payment is undoubtedly justified; however, we strongly recommend turning to a solicitor to make sure the amount is adequate.
The rights to use a copyrighted work include:
As the name suggests, these are directly connected with the author’s personality, and therefore can’t be transferred to anyone else. These rights apply only as long as the author lives. However, this doesn’t imply that the work may be used freely when the author becomes deceased, as their death has no effect on protecting the authorship itself – it can’t be appropriated (the author’s name must always be stated when further distributing their work) or used in a way that would decrease its value. The author’s relative or another close person may claim the right to protect the authorship even when the property rights are no longer valid.
The personality rights include:
An example from the practice of copyright: You might have heard about the dispute between the Prague Zoo and the painter Michal Cihlář, who took action to have fine artwork removed from the zoo’s premises. Although he wasn’t its author, the artwork strongly resembled his original work that he had created for the zoo. The Prague Municipal Court took Cihlář’s side and ordered the zoo to remove the exhibited artwork. The reason was that the zoo negotiated an unclear licence agreement with the painter. In the end, the zoo managed to win the case in 2018, but only after ten years of dragging legal disputes.
A creative work is automatically granted legal protection once it’s created. It needn’t be registered as industrial rights (trademarks, patents, registered designs, etc.) do. However, to gain a better legal position, you may wish to register with a copyright collective, also known as a licensing agency or copyright collecting agency. These are legal persons that have been granted the mandate by the Ministry of Culture to exercise collective administration. In other words, they may represent a number of physical persons and collectively apply and protect their property rights
Currently, the following copyright collectives exist in the Czech Republic:
When a writer writes a book, they usually sign a publisher’s licence agreement, upon which the book is published and the writer receives royalties from the publisher – the reward for writing the book and, frequently, also a share of its sales. However, the writer is also free to sign a contract with DILIA, owing to which they may receive a sum of money for making their book available in libraries.
What to keep in mind:
Your Attorneys Online advise: If you create a work of value and choose not to register with a licensing agency, do keep any and all preparatory materials (sketches, handwritings, original text versions…) or have a notary keep them safe for you.
The modern digital age favours using a work without its author’s permission, i.e., copyright infringement. Advertising campaigns regularly contain pictures downloaded from the Internet, and copied text can be found on numerous websites. Naturally, the question arises whether the current legal system is sustainable and whether to expect a major reform.
Nonetheless, according to the Copyright Act, in such a case, the author may demand:
Naturally, the author is entitled to damages and restitution for unjust enrichment. They may claim twice the royalty for any unauthorized use.
Your Attorneys Online advise: Keep in mind that copyrights are inherited. Thus, the author’s heir retains the same rights as long as the court acknowledges the inheritance during the probate.
Although authors usually defend their rights by means of civil litigation, copyright infringement may be deemed a criminal offence as well. The violation is punishable by a penalty, asset forfeiture, or even up to 2 years of imprisonment (up to 5 years if substantial profit was made or the offence was committed on a large scale, mainly if the infringement was systematically repeated).
Your Attorneys Online advise: Instead of jumping into legal action, why not try contacting the person or company who infringed on the copyright? You could give them a warning followed by the offer to purchase a licence. In addition, you could negotiate further conditions of using your work (e.g., that it may be used only in a certain country or for a limited period of time, define how it will be promoted, specify the amount of promotion materials, and so on).
The Copyright Act allows for use without permit if:
Dostupný advokát team of online lawyers will solve it for you.
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Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 10 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
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