A. Overview of POP-HC System
Under the POP-HC System, the DGIP automatically accepts and processes requests for copyright recordal and will automatically give approval to the copyright recordal application if the work:
- Does not copy and is not essentially similar with copyrighted work owned by another party or another intellectual property object.
- Is not an expression of traditional culture.
- Is not a work of an unknown creator.
- Is not a work that is not protected by Copyright.
- Is not a work of painting in the form of logo or a distinguishing mark used as a mark in trade/services or used as a symbol of an organization, business entity, or legal entity.
- Is not a work that violates religious norms, moral norms, public order, state defense and security or laws and regulations.
- Has never been and is not currently in a criminal and/or civil dispute in court.
The copyright recordal can be deleted under the following circumstances:
- Upon request of the person or legal entity whose name is registered as the Author, Copyright Holder, or owner of related rights.
- There is a legally binding court decision that cancelled the recordal of Copyrights or related rights.
- The recordal violates religious norms, moral norms, public order, state defense and security, or statutory regulations. In such case, deletion is carried out by the DGIP.
Under the POP-HC System, the Copyright Office directly issues a notification of copyright recordal upon submission of a complete electronic form and supporting data, together with a verified payment. Automatic approval will be sent by the system to the applicant's account to download the notification of copyright recordal. The DGIP has promoted the fact that the recordal process can be completed within 10 minutes of submission.
B. Benefit of POP-HC System and copyright recordal
The POP-HC System aligns with the principle of automatic protection of copyright from the moment a work is created and fixed in a tangible form. While recordal is not compulsory to obtain protection, it is recommended, particularly as it creates a legal presumption of ownership and validity. A copyright recordal notification would serve as a prima facie evidence of the facts mentioned in the notification. Any party that challenges the presumption on the copyright recordal notification would bear the burden of rebutting the presumption.
The copyright recordal would be beneficial in case of dispute, as enforcement officials in practice would require both parties to provide proof that they are the legitimate authors or copyright owners of the works. Therefore, in addition to other evidence that the authors or copyright owners may have in hand for proving that they are the entitled persons for the works, the proof of copyright recordal would be an essential preliminary evidence since in practice, enforcement official tends to require authors or copyright owners to provide written evidence.
The proof of copyright recordal would also be useful in the case of licensing, since the Copyright Office requires the submission of evidence of copyright ownership for filing a license recordal application.
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