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Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
The period from November 24 to 30 of each year beginning 1937 is declared as the National Book Week.
Proclamation No. 109, series of 1936 acknowledges that reading good books is “one of the most important methods of bringing enlightenment within reach of the largest possible number of people, and or promoting the cause of popular culture with its tremendous social benefits.”
The law says:
“NOW, THEREFORE, I, Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, do hereby designate the period November 24-30 of each year beginning from nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, a National Book Week.” (Proclamation No. 109, s. 1936)
Proclamation No. 837, series of 1991
By virtue of Proclamation No. 837, series of 1991, the month of November of every year has been declared as the “Library and Information Services Month”. It recognizes the need to focus public awareness to the invaluable service that libraries and information centers render in providing data and materials for life-long knowledge and learning for research and leisure.
The Proclamation provides:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby declare the month of November 1991 and every year thereafter as “Library and Information Services Month,” under the auspices of The National Library and The National Committee on Library Information Services of the Presidential Commission on Culture and Arts.
I call upon all residents, regardless of race or creed, and the public and the private sectors to extend their full support to the observance of “Library and Information Services Month.” (Proclamation No. 837, s. 1991)
Did you know that books are regarded under Republic Act No. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code as a form of literary or artistic work, which are original intellectual creation?
The Intellectual Property Code provides:
Literary and artistic works, hereinafter referred to as “works”, are original intellectual creations in the literary and artistic domain protected from the moment of their creation and shall include in particular:
(a) Books, pamphlets, articles and other writings;
(b) xxx” (Section 172, R.A. No. 8293)
Copyright or Economic Rights
Authors of books, as with any other literary or artistic works, are entitled to copyright from the moment of the book’s creation.
The law says:
“Subject to the provisions of this section, in the case of original or literary and artistic works, copyright shall belong to the author of the work.” (Section 178, R.A. No. 8293)
Copyright or economic rights refer to the exclusive right to carry out authorize or prevent the following acts:
(1) Reproduction of the work or substantial portion of the book;
(2) Dramatization, translation, adaptation, abridgment, arrangement or tother transformation of the work;
(3) The first public distribution of the original and each copy of the work by sale or other forms of transfer of ownership;
(4) 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;
(5) Public display of the original or copy of the work;
(6) Public performance of the work; and
(7) Other communication to the public of the work. (Section 177, R.A. No. 8293)
Republic Act No. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 10372 provides that libraries may reproduce limited number of copies of books in certain instances.
The law says:
“Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection 177.1., any library or archive whose activities are not for profit may, without the authorization of the author or copyright owner, make a limited number of copies of the work, as may be necessary for such institutions to fulfill their mandate, by reprographic reproduction:
(a) Where the work by reason of its fragile character or rarity cannot be lent to user in its original form;
(b) Where the works are isolated articles contained in composite works or brief portions of other published works and the reproduction is necessary to supply them, when this is considered expedient, to persons requesting their loan for purposes of research or study instead of lending the volumes or booklets which contain them; and
(c) Where the making of such limited copies is in order to preserve and, if necessary, in the event that it is lost, destroyed or rendered unusable, replace a copy, or to replace, in the permanent collection of another similar library or archive, a copy which has been lost, destroyed or rendered unusable and copies are not available with the publisher.”
Notwithstanding the above provisions, it shall not be permissible to produce a volume of a work published in several volumes or to produce missing tomes or pages of magazines or similar works, unless the volume, tome or part is out of stock: Provided, That every library which, by law, is entitled to receive copies of a printed work, shall be entitled, when special reasons so require, to reproduce a copy of a published work which is considered necessary for the collection of the library but which is out of stock.” (Section 188, R.A. No. 8293, as amended by R.A. No. 10372)
Read also: What are the rights of book authors and writers under the Intellectual Property Code?
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