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In copyright, it is a well-known principle that every work has
been protected since its creation. This power is not subject to any
formality. In addition, the Berne Convention for the Protection of
Literary and Artistic Works, promulgated in Argentina in 1967,
states that "the enjoyment and exercise of these rights
[copyrights] shall not be subordinated to any formality."
However, the Argentinian copyright law No. 11,723, provided in its
Article 57, states the compulsory registration of all
published national works, thus generates controversy in
several areas.
First of all, we must determine that the above mentioned Article
57 states that the national publisher has the obligation to
register the complete copies of any "published work" in
Argentina, within three months of its publication. As a published
work it being understood "those who have been published with
the consent of its authors [...] and being available to the public
(Art.3 – Berne Convention)." In this sense, it is ruled
out that registration is compulsory for unpublished works, and the
registration of these works is voluntary. Therefore, we find the
first controversy about the character "public" of a work,
due to the fact that a work is not considered "published"
by the mere fact of being communicated or made known to the public.
An example, is the university thesis presented to a limited set of
people.
Secondly, a new conflict arises regarding the consequences of
non-compliance with the registration of works published at the
national level. As stipulated in Article 62 of Law 11.723,
compliance with the registration obligation guarantees the
copyright of the author's work. Therefore, it is understood
that in breach of this obligation, the author ceases to hold the
exclusive right to his work, and in addition will be fined.
However, this suspension only covers the economic or patrimonial
right of the author. To clarify, this means that third parties are
entitled to reproduce, edit and execute, without prior
authorization and payment to the author. Therefore, the suspension
of the economic rights does not affect the moral right as no third
parties can make any modification to the work or omit the
author's name.
As the discussion becomes more interesting, I will analyze the
last two points in my next post.
To be continued ...
Source:Villalba Carlos A. – Lipszyc,
Delia, "Copyright in Argentina", Buenos Aires, La ley,
2009.
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