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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:
An author has a copyright/economic rights, moral rights, and rights to proceeds in subsequent transfers. (Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines)
Authors and writers across diverse fields play an important role in society, contributing significantly to intellectual, cultural, and emotional development. Consequently, it becomes imperative to safeguard their intellectual property rights, striking a delicate balance between fostering innovation and ensuring due recognition for creators.
Who is an author?
Under Section 171.1 of the Intellectual Property Code (“IP Code”), an author is recognized as a natural person who has created a work. Importantly, these works are protected from the moment of their creation, and copyright is acquired without the necessity of registration and deposit. (Columbia Pictures vs Court of Appeals, 261 SCRA 144, 1996)
What are the protected works?
Section 172 of the IP Code outlines a comprehensive list of literary and artistic works protected from the moment of their creation. These include books, articles, musical compositions, drawings, computer programs, and various other forms of creative expression.
The law says:
SECTION 172. Literary and Artistic Works. ‑ 172.1. 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) Periodicals and newspapers;
(c) Lectures, sermons, addresses, dissertations prepared for oral delivery, whether or not reduced in writing or other material form;
(d) Letters;
(e) Dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions; choreographic works or entertainment in dumb shows;
(f) Musical compositions, with or without words;
(g) Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography or other works of art; models or designs for works of art;
(h) Original ornamental designs or models for articles of manufacture, whether or not registrable as an industrial design, and other works of applied art;
(i) Illustrations, maps, plans, sketches, charts and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science;
(j) Drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character;
(k) Photographic works including works produced by a process analogous to photography; lantern slides;
(l) Audiovisual works and cinematographic works and works produced by a process analogous to cinematography or any process for making audio-visual recordings;
(m) Pictorial illustrations and advertisements;
(n) Computer programs; and
(o) Other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works.
172.2. Works are protected by the sole fact of their creation, irrespective of their mode or form of expression, as well as of their content, quality and purpose.
Copyright/Economic Rights
Copyright, a legal concept granting exclusive rights to the creator, encompasses the right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, display, perform, and communicate the work to the public. It is both the right to copy and the right to be credited for the work, ensuring financial benefits for the creator. (Aquino, Ranhilio Calangan, Intellectual Property Law: Comments and Annotations, 2006 Edition)
The law says:
SECTION 177. Copyright or Economic Rights. – A copyright or economic rights shall consist of the exclusive right to carry out, authorize or prevent the following acts:
177.1. Reproduction of the work or substantial portion of the work;
177.2. Dramatization, translation, adaptation, abridgment, arrangement or other transformation of the work;
177.3. The first public distribution of the original and each copy of the work by sale or other forms of transfer of ownership;
177.4. 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, irrespective of the ownership of the original or the copy which is the subject of the rental; (n)
177.5. Public display of the original or a copy of the work;
177.6. Public performance of the work; and
177.7. Other communication to the public of the work.
Moral Rights
Beyond economic rights, authors hold moral rights, as stated in Section 193 of the IP Code. These rights include the right to attribution, the ability to control alterations and publication, and the authority to object to any distortion or modification that could harm their honor or reputation.
The law says:
SECTION 193. Scope of Moral Rights. ‑ The author of a work shall, independently of the economic rights in Section 177 or the grant of an assignment or license with respect to such right, have the right:
193.1. To require that the authorship of the works be attributed to him, in particular, the right that his name, as far as practicable, be indicated in a prominent way on the copies, and in connection with the public use of his work;
193.2. To make any alterations of his work prior to, or to withhold it from publication;
193.3. To 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
193.4. To restrain the use of his name with respect to any work not of his own creation or in a distorted version of his work.
Rights to Proceeds in Subsequent Transfers
Section 200 establishes the inalienable right of authors or their heirs to receive five percent (5%) of the gross proceeds from the sale or lease of their original works, such as paintings, sculptures, or manuscripts. This right persists throughout the author’s lifetime and fifty (50) years after their death.
The law says:
SECTION 200. Sale or Lease of Work. ‑ In every sale or lease of an original work of painting or sculpture or of the original manuscript of a writer or composer, subsequent to the first disposition thereof by the author, the author or his heirs shall have an inalienable right to participate in the gross proceeds of the sale or lease to the extent of five percent (5%). This right shall exist during the lifetime of the author and for fifty (50) years after his death.
Read also: How to Spot Copyright Infringement
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