Source: http://a2knetwork.org/es/node/1973
Timestamp: 2013-06-19 12:06:53
Document Index: 392280320

Matched Legal Cases: ['sui generis', 'sui generis', 'Art 77', 'Art 78', 'Art. 33', 'Art 33', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'Art 33', 'Art9', 'Art11', 'art 139', 'Art. 138', 'Art 144']

Romania 2011 | A2Knetwork.org
Home › Romania 2011 Romania 2011 Submitted by bogdan on Thu, 24/02/2011 - 10:43
Law 8/1996 on copyright and neighboring rights - updated until 2011 ("Law8") Patent legislation
Law 64/1991 on patents republished on Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 541/ 8 august 2007 ("Law64")
Law 365/2002 on electronic commerce ("Law365") Copyright treaties
Geneva Convention on Phonograms 1971 ("Geneva Convetion") Scope and duration of copyright
In principle, all works (including computer programs) copyrights are in force for the life of the author + 70 years after its death (transferred by inheritance, according to civil legislation). Other works - 70 years from the publication date (collective works, anonymous or pseudonymous authors' works)
Law 8 - Chapter V Duration of Copyright Protection
Definition of copyright does not include the notion of "material form"
Law 8 Article 7
However, the European Court of Justice decisions in this domain are applicable in Romania.
Databases can be protected by copyright, if "by reason of the selection or arrangement of their subject matter constitute intellectual creations." Also databases can be protected by a "sui generis" right, based on the EU Database directive.
Law 8 Article 8b and Title II Chapter VI (for sui generis right)
As regard to computer programs, creating a backup copy or to observe or test the operation of the programme is specifically allowed.
As regards the other limitations of the copyright law, there is not an express prohibition. (in fact the law uses the wording "limitations on the exercise of copyright" and not user rights). Law 8 Art 77-79 and Chapter VI Limitations on the Exercise of Copyright
Law 64 Article 8(1)c
There isn't a general user right, but rather a set of limitations specifically foreseen by law.
Law 8 Chapter VI Limitations on the Exercise of Copyright
This would fall under the category of private copy, if it is made by a home user.
Law 8 - article 34
For computer programs, this is specifically forseen in the law, as long as the copy is "necessary for the use of the program". As regards other works, this would probably fall under private copy exception.
Law 8 - article 77 and article 34
As long as it fits what the law calls "normal family circle" and that "the work has already been disclosed to the public, while the reproduction does not contravene to the normal use of the work or prejudice the author or the owner of the utilization rights."
Only if it fits under the limitation "specific acts of reproduction made by publicly accessible libraries, educational establishments or museums, or by archives, which are not for direct or indirect economic or commercial advantage" or reproducing or using "works, for the sole purpose of illustration for teaching or scientific research"
Law 8 Article 33 (1) e and Article 33 (2) d
The law does not make this distinction, therefore if the education takes place at distance, it should be covered by the above mentioned articles.
Because it is not included in the exceptions. However pats of the work might de translated, if it falls under "the alteration is a short review of the works by didactic purpose, mentioning the author."
Law 8 Article 35 d
Only if it falls under the limitation "The reproduction, distribution, broadcasting or communication to the public, with neither direct nor indirect commercial or economic advantage, are allowed (...)of works, for the sole purpose of illustration for teaching or scientific research"
Law 8 Article 33 (1) e OnlineAre temporary or transient copies, incidental to a lawful use, excepted from copyright?
Law 8 Article 33 (3)
The E-commerce law provide such a generic liability (not only for copyright purposes)for ISPs and hosting companies, if they were not informed about the infringement
Law 365 Chapter IV Service providers liability Is Internet access free of ISP filtering or monitoring for potential copyright-infringements?
Only in the case when they would not make the work public. Than it might be considered a private copy.
Only if it is necessary for interoperability, under a set of strict conditions
Law8 Art 78-80
Only if it falls under the citation exception (the use of brief quotations from a work for the purpose of an analysis, commentary or criticism, or for illustration, to the extent justified by use thereof) or other exceptions (educational, information, legal proceedings, etc.)
Law8 Chapter VI Limitations on the Exercise of Copyright
In cases of alteration, there is allowed if the result of the alteration is a parody or caricature, provided that the said result does not cause confusion with the original work and the author thereof.
Law8 Article 35 b
But they need to fall under one of the exceptions for thus purpose:
-the use of isolated articles or brief excerpts from works in publications, television or radio broadcasts or sound or audiovisual recordings exclusively intended for teaching purposes and also the reproduction for teaching purposes, within the framework of public education or social welfare institutions, of isolated articles or brief extracts from works, to the extent justified by the intended purpose;
- use of brief excerpts from press articles and radio or televised reportages, for informatory purposes on current events, except those for which such a use is expressly reserved;
Law 8 Art. 33
Yes, but only in brief quotations "to the extent justified by use thereof"
Law8 Art 33 b
The text of the law covers quite an extensive area of uses:
"for the purpose of an analysis, commentary or criticism, or for illustration"
The only exception is the "the complete reproduction of a copy of a work shall be allowed for the replacement of the sole copy in such an archive or library’s permanent collection in the event of the destruction, serious deterioration or loss thereof"
Law8 art 33 (1) d
This is limited to their own use/activites.
Law8 art 33
Law8 art 33 (1) d +e
But only if they directly related to that disability and to the extent required by the specific disability
Law8 Art 33 (2) e
Law 8 Art9 b
Only "official texts of a political, legislative, administrative or judicial nature, and official translations thereof"
There is no specific procedure for that. Moreover, the moral rights are perpetual or disposed of.
Law8 Art11
If a work is in the public domain, the copyright law does not apply to it. (except the moral rights provisions)
There are discussions to include a future article on orphaned works when the law will be ammended. A draft in this respect has been made available in August 2010 on the Ministry of Culture website. (http://www.cultura-net.ro/DezbateriDetalii.aspx?ID=346)
Parallel importation is allowed inside the European Union but not from third countries. Are there national programmes or policies to promote the use, production or dissemination of openly-licensed material such as free and open source software or open educational resources?
Maximum penalty is 15 years in prison (for serios commercial-scale copyright infringement). On top of this there might be civil damages to be paid.
Law 8 - art 139^6
The law does not disntiguish between corporations and phisical person. However, the penal crimes can be applied only to phisical persons, in principle (e.g. manager of a company)
All crimes need to be comitted with intent, otherwise they are no punishable.
Penal law doctrine, Law8
The law only forsees that copyright owners that have instituted technical measures of protection must make available to the beneficiaries of the exceptions provided by law the necessary means for the legal access to the work or any other object of protection.
However, there is no penalty foreseen in the law for not respecting this obligation. Law8 Art. 138^5 (4)
There is no specific provisions in this respect.
However,in practice this is made by court jurisprudance.
As far as we are aware, the ISPs were not too open to copyright owners requests. On the other hand, most cases of this type go to the Prosectors that have the right to ask to the ISPs their user details.
For example, there is a crime for a person improperly to assume the authorship of a work or to disclose a work to the public under a name other than the one decided upon by the author.
Law8 Art 144
The damages for copyright infringement are not established by the copyright law, but they are based on common law (civil law). Therefore the copyright owners can ask only for the damages incurred (that need to proven in court), not just vague estimations. However, in the end, it would be the court decision of how much damages it can award.
Civil law doctrine
No legal provision in this respect. However, in a court a respondant may ask for damages, if he(she) thinks it is a bogus case against them. (but need to prove any damages requested)
The Romanian copyright law has changed a lot, following the process of European integration, implementing (most of the times in a rush and without detailed public consultation) the EU aquis in the copyright field.New changes of the copyright law are envisaged for the next period, as the new possible changes have been made public on the Ministry of Culture website (only in Romanian) in August 2010 , that includes adressing the problems of orphan works. So far there has been no official public consultation on the new text.Also note that the Romanian legal system is not based on jurisprudence, therefore no cases were mentioned in this analysis.However, we may note that the practice of the courts has been to decide on small penalities, even in the case of commercial infringement of copyright via the Internet (average: 1-2 years in prison, but with suspension - see for example - Crimes in informatics domain. Jurisprudence collection, Zainea Mariana, Simion Raluca, C.H. Beck, ISBN: 978-973-115-607-1).Also, as far as we are aware, in the few cases brought against regular p2p users the prosecutors did not apply any criminal fines or penalities (such as inprisonment), but the maximum awarded were administrative fines. (see personal comments, only in Romanian).
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