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Laws

Civil Code (Section10)

• 
  Section 10 - Intellectual Property
• Chapter 62 - General Provisions
• Chapter 63 - Copyright
• Chapter 64 - Related Rights
• Chapter 65 - Right to an Invention, Utility Model, or Industrial Design
• Chapter 66 - Rights to New Varieties of Plants and New Breeds of Animals
• Chapter 67 - Right to the Topology of Integrated Microcircuits
• Chapter 68 - Right to Protection of Undisclosed Information From Illegal Use
• Chapter 69 - Means of Individualization of Participants in Civil Commerce, of Goods, and of Services

Chapter 63: Copyright

Article 1111. Objects of Copyright
1.Copyright extends to works of scholarship, literature, and art that are the result of creative activity regardless of the use and merits of the work and also to means of its expression.
2.The work must be expressed in audible, written or other objective form allowing the possibility of its perception.
3.A work in written form or otherwise expressed on a material carrier (manuscript, typescript, musical notation, recording with the use of technical means, including sound or video recording, fixation of an image in two dimensional or volume-special form, etc.) shall be considered as having objective form regardless of its accessibility by third persons.
4.An audible work or other work not expressed on a material carrier, shall be considered to have objective form if it has become accessible for perception by third persons (public recitation, public performance, etc.)
5.Copyright extends both to works made public and not made public.

6.Copyright does not extend to scientific discoveries, ideas, principles, methods, procedures, viewpoints, systems, ceremonies, scientific theories, mathematical formulas, statistical diagrams, rules of games, even if they are expressed, described, disclosed, commented in works.

Article 1112. Types of Objects of Copyright
The objects of copyright include:
1) literary works (literary-artistic, scholarly, instructional, publicistic, etc.)
2) dramatic and film script works;
3) musical works with words and without words;
4) musical-dramatic works;
5) choreographic works and pantomimes;
6) audiovisual works (motion picture, television, and video films, slide films, transparency films and other motion picture, television and video works), radio works;
7) works of painting, sculpture, graphics, design and other works of fine art;
8) works of applied decorative and stage-setting art;
9) works of architecture, city planning, and garden and park art;
10) photographic works and works made by modes analogous to photography;
11) geographic, geologic, and other maps, plans, drawings, and plastic works related to geography, topography, and other sciences;
12) programs for computers of all types, including applied programs and operating systems;
13) kinds of fonts;
14) other works meeting the requirements established by Article 1111 of the present Code.
Article 1113. Parts of a Work and Derivative Works
1.Parts of works, their names, and derivative works are objects of copyright if they meet the requirements established by Article 1111 of the present Code.
2.Derivative works include:
1)works that are the reworking of other works (revisions, annotations, summaries, resumes, surveys, stage-settings, arrangements, and other similar works of scholarship, literature, and art);
2)translations;
3)collections (encyclopedias, anthologies) databases and other compiled works, that are by selection or organization of materials the result of creative labor.
3.Derivative works are protected by copyright, regardless of whether or not the works upon which they are based or which they include are objects of copyright.
Article 1114. Works that are not Objects of Copyright
The following are not objects of copyright:
1)official documents (legal acts, decrees, decisions, etc.), and also their official translations;
2)official symbols and signs (flags, coats of arms, medals, monetary signs; etc.);
3) expressions of traditional folklore and art;
4)communications on daily news or communications on current events having the nature of ordinary press information;
5) results obtained by technical means without the intervention of human creative activity;
6) political speeches, speeches delivered in the court.


Article 1115. Rights to Drafts of Official Documents, Symbols, and Signs
1.The right of authorship to a draft of an official documents, of a symbol, or of a sign belongs to the person who has created the draft (the developer).
2.The developers of drafts of official documents, symbols, and signs have the right to publish such a draft if this is not forbidden by the body upon whose delegation the development of the draft was made. In case of publication of the draft the developers have the right to indicate their names.
3.The draft may be used by the competent body for the making of an official document without the consent of the developer if this draft has been published by him or has been sent by him to the respective body.
4.In the making of official documents, symbols or signs on the basis of a draft, additions and changes may be made to it at the discretion of the body conducting the making of the official document, symbol, or sign.
After approval of the draft by the competent body, it may be used without indication of the name of the developer.
Article 1116. Arising of Copyright. Presumption of Authorship
1.Copyright to a work of scholarship, literature, or art arises by virtue of the fact of its creation. Neither registration of the work nor the observance of any other formalities is required for the arising of copyright.
2.A person whose name appears on the work or whose name is mentioned at the moment of making the work public, or in whose name the work is deposited in the relevant organization of collective administration of economic rights or the notary or other organizations having the appropriate authorization by law shall be deemed to be the author, unless proved otherwise. This provision also applies in case the name is a pseudonym and the personality of the author acting under pseudonym causes no doubt.
3.In the case of publication the work anonymously or by pseudonym the publisher whose name or denomination appears on the work shall, until otherwise proved, be deemed to be the representative of the author and shall be entitled to protect the author's rights and ensure their execution. This provision shall be valid until the author of such a work reveals his identity and declares his authorship.

Article 1117. Co-authorship
1.Copyright to a work made by the joint creative activity of two or more citizens belongs to the coauthors jointly, regardless of whether such a work forms one indivisible whole or consists of parts each of which also has independent significance.
2.A part of a work has independent significance if it may be used independently from other parts of the work.
3.Each of the coauthors shall have the right to use a part of the work created by him that has independent significance at his discretion unless otherwise provided by agreement among them.
4.The relations of coauthors shall be determined on the basis of an agreement. In the absence of such an agreement, copyright to a work shall be exercised by all the authors jointly and remuneration shall be distributed among them equally.
5.If the work of coauthors forms one indivisible whole, then no one of the authors has the right without sufficient bases there for to forbid the use of the work.
Article 1118. Authors of Derivative Works
1.Authors of derivative works are respectively persons who have made the revision of other works, translators, compilers of collections and other compiled works.
2.The author of a derivative work shall enjoy copyright to this work on the condition of his observance of the right of the author of the work that has undergone revision, translation, or inclusion in a compiled work.
3.The copyright of creators of derivative works shall not prevent other persons from creating their own derivative works on the basis of work already used earlier, if the requirements of paragraph (2) of this Article are met.
.
Article 1119. Rights of Persons Organizing the Creation of Works
1.Persons organizing the creation of works (publishers of encyclopedias, makers of films, producers, etc.) shall not be recognized as authors of the respective works. However in the cases provided by the present Code or other statutes, such persons shall acquire exclusive rights to the use of these works.
2.Publishers of encyclopedias, encyclopedic works, periodical or continuing collections of scholarly works, newspapers, magazines, and other periodical publications shall have the exclusive rights to the use of such publications. The publisher shall have the right in case of any use of such designations to indicate its name or demand such an indication.
The authors of works included in such publications shall retain the exclusive rights to the use of their works independent of the publication as a whole unless otherwise provided by a contract for the creation of the work.
Article 1120. Symbols of Protection of Copyright
1.The holder of an exclusive copyright may, for notification of his rights, use the symbol of protection of copyright which shall be placed on each copy of the work and consists of three elements:
1) the Latin letter “C” in a circle:
2) the name or denomination of the holder of the exclusive economic rights;
3) the year of first publication of the work.
2.Unless proved otherwise, the right holder shall be considered to be the person indicated in the symbol of protection of copyright.

Article 1121. Moral Non-Economic Rights of the Author

1.Moral non-economic rights of the author shall provide his intellectual and personal ties to the work.
2.The author shall enjoy the following moral non-economic rights to his work:
1) the right to be recognized as the author of the work (the right of authorship);
2) the right to use the work by his name, pseudonym or anonymously or the right to authorize of such use (the right of the author's name);
3) the right of prohibiting probable distortions, modifications or other trespasses to the work which may prejudice to his honor or reputation (the right of honor and reputation of the author);
4) the right to make the work public in any mode for the first time or to assign that right to a third person (the right of making public);
5).the right to withdraw the former decision to make the work public (right to withdrawal) if the work being made public does not comply with his principles and that event will have a negative effect on his authority provided that he adequately reimburses the damage (included the missed advantage) caused to the lawful users. If the work has already been published the author shall publicly notify about its revocation. Furthermore the author has the right to withdraw from circulation, previous copies of the work, covering the necessary expenses. The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to computer works, audiovisual works, databases as well as employment works, unless otherwise provided by the contract between the author and the employer.
3.The moral rights of the author are inalienable and nontransferable and are not subject to exhaustion with the exception of the right to withdrawal, which runs for the life of the author.

Articles 1122 and 1123 are repealed.

Article 1124. The Right of the Author to Use of a Work
1. The author has an exclusive right to use his work in any mode and form, as well as to authorize or prohibit third persons to use his work, particularly;
1) reproduction of a work (right of reproduction);
2) distribution of a work ( right of distribution);
3) rental of the original or copies of a work (rental right);
4) lending of the original or copies of a work (lending right)
5) translation of a work (right of translation);
6) arrangement, rearrangement, illustration, adaptation and other transformations of a work (right of transformation);
7) communication of a work to the public (right of communication to the public);
8) public performance of a work (right of public performance);
9) public display of a work (right of public display);
10) broadcasting of a work (right of broadcasting) ;
11) simultaneous broadcasting or further re-broadcasting of a work (right of re-broadcasting);
12) transmission of a work by cable or similar means (right of cable transmission);
13) use of a work in other forms and modes which do not contradict with the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.
2) 2nd paragraph is hereby repealed.
3) Paragraphs 3 and 4 modify as follows.
<3. Reproduction of a work shall mean the fixation in any tangible medium directly or indirectly, permanently or temporarily by any means and in any form, in whole or in part.
4. Distribution of a work shall mean the putting into circulation the original or copies of a work by sale or other form of transfer of ownership as well as their importation.>
5.If copies of a work have been alienated by the procedure established by statute, then their further distribution shall be allowed without the consent of the author and without the payment of remuneration with the exception of cases provided by statute.
6.A work shall be considered used regardless of whether it has been used with the purpose of acquiring profit or its use was not directed at this.
7.The practical use of matters constituting the contents of works (inventions, other technical, economic, organizational, etc. solutions) shall not constitute the use of a work in the sense of copyright.
Article 1125. Disposition of the Right to Use of the Work
1.The author or other right holder may by contract, including contract concluded at public auction, transfer all rights to use the work to another person (alienation of the right to use).
2.The right to use of a work may pass by way of universal legal succession (Paragraph 1 of Article 1105).
3.The rightholder may grant another person permission (a license) for the use of the work within defined limits. Permission is required for the use of the work both in its original and in a reworked form, in particular as a translation, arrangement, etc.
4. For each mode of use of the work special permission of the right older is required (Paragraph 2 of Article 1105).
Article 1126. Right of Access of the Author to a Fine Arts Work
1.The author of a work of fine art has a right to demand from the owner of the original or the copy of the work to provide him an opportunity to reproduce and reprocess his work if it does not prejudice the legitimate interests of the owner. However, the owner of the work is not obliged to deliver the work to the place of the author. By providing such an opportunity the owner may require the author to provide security in the amount of the market value of the original or the copy of the work or other assurance.
2. The author of the work of fine art has a right to be notified of the resale of the original of the alienated work of fine art by the owner, auctions, galleries, art salons, stores or other agent, and shall enjoy the inalienable right to obtain from the vendor five percent of the price of each subsequent resale (resale right).

.Article 1127. Limitations Upon Copyrights
1.Limitations of the exclusive rights of the author shall be applied on the condition that they do not cause unjustified damage to the normal use of the work and do not impinge in an unjustified manner on the legal interests of the author.
2.Limitation of the exclusive rights of the author and of other persons to the use of the work shall be allowed only in cases provided by statute.
Article 1128. The Right to an Employment Work
The 1st paragraph is hereby repealed.
2. Economic rights in a work created on employment assignments or employment duties shall belong to the employer unless otherwise stipulated by the contract between the author and the employer.
The contract concluded between the author and the employer may provide equitable remuneration for the author for the use of each type of the employment work as well as the calculation and payment order and contain other terms for the use of the work.
3. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to encyclopedias, encyclopedic dictionaries, scientific works, periodic and continuous collections, newspapers, magazines and other periodical publications created by the order of employment assignments or employment duties.
The 4th paragraph is hereby repealed.
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Article 1129. Effectiveness of Copyright on the Territory of the Republic of Armenia
1.
1.The provisions of this Law shall apply to the works of authors and performances of performers who are citizens of the Republic of Armenia irrespective of the place of the creation or making public of the work.
2. The provisions of this Law shall apply to the works of authors and performances of performers who are not citizens of the Republic of Armenia but their works or performances were first made public in the Republic of Armenia or if the author or performer has permanent residence in the Republic of Armenia.
The work is also considered to be published for the first time in the Republic of Armenia if within 30 days of having been published in another country, is published in the Republic of Armenia.
3. The provisions of this Law shall apply also to phonograms the producers of which are citizens of the Republic of Armenia or have permanent residence in the Republic of Armenia. The provisions of paragraph (2) of this Article shall apply to the phonograms of foreign producers of phonograms.
4.The provisions of paragraph (3) shall respectively apply to films, TV and radio programs, publication of works not made public before, as well as databases.

Article 1130. The Beginning of Effectiveness of Copyright

1. Copyright to a work begins to be in effect from the time a work is given an objective form accessible for perception by third persons regardless of its release to the public. Copyright to an audible work is effective from the time of its communication to third persons.
2. If a work does not fall under the effect of Article 1129 of the present Code, the copyright to such a work shall be protected from the time of the first publication of the work, if the publication is made in the Republic of Armenia .

Article 1131. Term of Protection of Economic Rights
1.The author’s economic rights shall run for the whole life of the author and for 70 years after his death.
2.The economic rights in a work created by co-authorship shall run for the life of the co-authors and for 70 years after the death of the last surviving author.
3. In case of anonymous or pseudonymous works the economic rights of the author emanate from the date the work is lawfully made available to the public and shall run for 70 years. If, during the mentioned period, the identity of the author of the work made public anonymously or under a pseudonym is disclosed, the terms mentioned in paragraph (1) of this Article shall apply.
4. The terms of protection laid down in this Article shall be calculated from the first day
of January of the year following the year in which the event has occurred.

Article 1132. Passage of a Work into the Public Domain
1.Upon the expiration of the time period of effectiveness of the copyright to a work it shall enter the public domain.
Works that never were given protection on the territory of the Republic of Armenia shall be considered to be in the public domain.
2.Works that are in the public domain may be used freely by any person without payment of author's remuneration. However, the right of authorship, the right of the author's name, and the right of honor and reputation of the author must be protected, except in cases provided for by the law.
Article 1133. Inheritance of Economic Rights and Transfer
1. Copyright is subject to succession.
2.The right of authorship, the right of name, the right of honor and reputation, and the right of withdrawal shall not be transferable by succession.
3. The author's heirs are entitled to protect the right of authorship, the right of name, the right of honor and reputation, without term limitation.
In case of absence of heirs the protection of the mentioned rights shall be carried out by the Authorized Body of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
4. Economic rights of the author may be transferred to a third person by a contract concluded between the latter and the author, his heirs and subsequent successors in title.
5. Economic rights may be transferred to another person in the result of reorganization of the right holder legal entity.

Article 1134. License for the Use of Work. Author’s Contract
1.Third persons may use the work only with the consent of the holder of economic rights (the author of a work or a third person who has obtained these rights in the order established by Law, hereinafter right holder) on the basis of author’s contract, unless otherwise provided by Law.
2.Author’s contract, which regulates the relations between the right holder and the person who has obtained license to use the work (hereinafter licensee), shall be compensative and may be exclusive or non-exclusive.
3.By the author’s non-exclusive contract the right holder grants the licensee a right to use the work in certain term and within the limits mentioned in the contract, retaining the exclusive rights in the work, among them the right to authorize third persons to use the work.
4.By the author’s exclusive contract the right holder transfers the licensee an exclusive right to use the work in certain term and within the limits provided by the contract, retaining the right in the work for the part specified by the contract. In this case the right to prevent the use of the work by third persons may be exercised by the right holder, if the licensee does not do so.
5.The rights transferred by the author’s contract are considered to be non-exclusive unless otherwise provided by the contract.
6.Conditions of the contract, limiting the author's rights of creating a work in future shall be null and void.
7.The rights to use an unknown work at the moment of concluding the contract may not be a subject matter of an author’s contract.


Article 1135. The Conditions and Forms of an Author's Contract
1. The author’s contract shall establish the extent of the transferred rights, the modes of
using the work, the term of transferring the right to use and the amount of remuneration,
the order to determine the amount of remuneration, the term and order of payment, as
well as other conditions that the parties may consider to be essential.
2. Remuneration in the author’s contract is defined as a percent of profit received from
the relevant exploitation of the work, and in the case it is not possible due to the nature
of the work, it is defined as a certain amount fixed in the contract or in any other way
acceptable for the parties.
The minimum rates for authors’ remuneration shall be established by the government of
the Republic of Armenia.
3. In case of absence, in the author's contract, of the condition in respect of the territory
(within the boundaries of which the right of use of the work is valid), the validity of the
contract shall be limited to the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
4.All the other rights, which are not provided in the author's contract, shall be reserved in
favor of the right holder.
5.The author's contract is valid until the expiry date mentioned in the contract but shall
cease at the moment of expiry of the term of validity of economic rights. If the term of
validity is not mentioned in the license contract then the defined validity period shall be
considered 5 years.
6.Each party of the contract may transfer the rights, transferred under the author’s
contract, to third persons, either entirely or in part, only in case it is directly stipulated by
the contract.
7.Conditions of the author’s contract, which contradict with the provisions of this Law or limit the author's rights of creating in future a work of certain type and in certain field, shall be null and void.
8. An author’s contract shall be concluded in a written form.


Article 1136. Liability for the Use of a Work without Authorization
1.A person that has used the work without authorization of the right holder has the obligation to compensate to the right holder the actual damages caused .
2.The right holder may claim;
a) compensation at the rate of double royalty or remuneration, which the right holder would receive if the infringer had the authorization for the use of copyright subject matter or
b) compensation for damages equal to the damage caused by the actual infringement, including the lost benefit.


Article 1137. Liability for the Use of a Work Without a Contract
1. In case of use of a work without a contract with the right holder, the infringer has the obligation to compensate the right holder for the caused damages, including the lost benefit.
The right holder has the right to recover from the infringer, for the damages, the income received by it as a result of the infringement.
2. The use of a work in a mode not provided by the author's contract or upon the termination of effectiveness of such contract shall be considered as a use of the work without a contract.
Article 1138. Legal Regulation of Copyright Relations
Copyright relations shall be regulated by the present Code and by the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Copyright and Related Rights.”
The Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Copyright and Related Rights” shall be applied to relations not regulated by the present Chapter.