Copyright

Beyond the moral and cultural relations that are established between the author and the publisher, the publication of the author's work also involves the formality of concluding a publishing contract, which sets out a series of financial and editorial details relating to the transfer of copyright.

The main elements to be negotiated are:

- the duration of the contract. It cannot be concluded indefinitely, just as it cannot be concluded for all the works the author will write from that moment on. The optimal duration is 5 years. It is possible to negotiate between 3 and 7 years without any major problems. Beyond that, either the author or the publisher may have difficulties.

- territory and language for which the rights are assigned. The correct specification is "in Romanian, without limiting the territory in which the work will be distributed", to allow sales in other countries where there are Romanian-speaking readers.

- the date of publication of the first edition. The contract is often concluded when the work exists but is not in final form. The author still has work to do, possibly to accept and make changes requested by the publisher. A deadline of at least 6 months from the delivery of the manuscript in final form is usually set. A publisher does not publish a single book, it has to wait in line, it has to be editorially and technically prepared, it has to be promoted.

- The assignment of economic rights implies a remuneration for the author, if requested, usually in the form of a percentage of the value of the print run sold.

LAW No 8 of 14 March 1996 on copyright and related rights

PUBLISHED IN: OFFICIAL MONITOR No. 60 of 26 March 1996

ARTICLE 1

(1) Copyright in a literary, artistic or scientific work, as well as in any other such works of intellectual creation, shall be recognized and guaranteed under the terms of this Law. This right shall be linked to the person of the author and shall include moral and economic attributes.

(2) A work of intellectual creation shall be recognised and protected, independently of its being made known to the public, by the mere fact of its creation, even if unfinished.

ART. 5

(1) A joint work is a work created by several co-authors in collaboration.

(2) The copyright of the joint work shall belong to its co-authors, one of whom may be the principal author, under the terms of this Law.

(3) In the absence of an agreement to the contrary, the co-authors may exploit the work only by mutual agreement. Refusal of consent by any of the co-authors must be duly justified.

(4) Where the contribution of each co-author is separate, it may be exploited separately, provided that the exploitation of the joint work or the rights of the other co-authors are not prejudiced.

(5) In the case of use of the work created in collaboration, remuneration shall be due to the co-authors in the proportions they have agreed. In the absence of an agreement, the remuneration shall be divided in proportion to the authors' shares of the contribution or equally if these cannot be determined.

ART. 6

(1) A collective work is a work in which the personal contributions of the co-authors form a whole, it not being possible, given the nature of the work, to attribute a separate right to any one of the co-authors in the whole of the work created.

(2) In the absence of an agreement to the contrary, copyright in the collective work shall belong to the natural or legal person who took the initiative, under whose responsibility and under whose name it was created.

ARTICLE 7

Original works of intellectual creation in the literary, artistic or scientific field shall constitute the subject-matter of copyright irrespective of the mode of creation, the concrete mode or form of expression and irrespective of their value and purpose:

(a) literary and journalistic writings, lectures, sermons, sermons, speeches and any other written or oral works, as well as computer programs;

(b) scientific works, whether written or oral, such as: communications, studies, university courses, textbooks, scientific projects and documentation;

c) musical compositions with or without text;

(f) photographic works and any other works expressed by a process analogous to photography;

(l) plastic works, maps and drawings in the field of topography, geography and science in general.

ARTICLE 8

Without prejudice to the rights of the authors of the original work, derivative works which have been created from one or more pre-existing works shall also be subject to copyright, namely:

(a) translations, adaptations, annotations, documentary works, musical arrangements and any other transformations of a literary, artistic or scientific work which constitute an intellectual work of creation;

 

b) collections of literary, artistic or scientific works, such as: encyclopaedias and anthologies, collections or compilations of material or data, whether or not protected, including databases, which, by their choice or arrangement of material, constitute intellectual creations.

ART. 9

The following are not eligible for legal copyright protection:

(a) ideas, theories, concepts, discoveries and inventions, contained in a work, however taken, written, explained or expressed;

(b) official texts of a political, legislative, administrative or judicial nature and official translations thereof;

(c) official symbols of the State, public authorities and organisations, such as the coat of arms, the seal, the flag, the emblem, the coat of arms, the badge, the badge and the medal;

d) means of payment;

e) news and press information;

f) simple facts and data.

ARTICLE 10

The author of a work shall have the following moral rights:

(a) the right to decide whether, in what manner and when the work shall be made known to the public;

(b) the right to claim recognition of authorship of the work;

c) the right to decide under what name the work shall be made known to the public;

d) the right to claim respect for the integrity of the work and to object to any alteration of, or interference with, the work which would be prejudicial to his honour or reputation;

(e) the right to withdraw the work, compensating, where appropriate, the owners of the exploitation rights who have been harmed by the exercise of the withdrawal.

ARTICLE 13

The use or exploitation of a work shall give rise to distinct and exclusive rights of the author to authorise:

(a) reproduction of the work in whole or in part;

(b) dissemination of the work;

c) the importation for commercialization in Romania of copies of the work, made with the consent of the author;

d) the scenic representation, recitation or any other means of public performance or direct presentation of the work;

ART. 14

(2) Broadcasting, for the purposes of this Law, means the distribution to the public of the original or copies of a work, by sale, rental, loan or any other means of transmission for consideration or free of charge.

ARTICLE 16

The author of a work shall have the exclusive economic right to authorise the translation, publication in collections, adaptation and any other transformation of his work into a derivative work.

ARTICLE 25

(1) The economic rights referred to in Articles 13, 16, 17, 18 and 21 shall last for the life of the author, and shall pass by inheritance after his death, in accordance with civil law, for a period of 70 years, whatever the date on which the work was lawfully made known to the public. If there are no heirs, these rights shall be exercised by the collective management body mandated during the author's lifetime or, in the absence of a mandate, by the collective management body with the largest number of members in the relevant field of creation.

(2) A person who, after the expiry of copyright protection, lawfully brings a previously unpublished work to the public's attention for the first time shall enjoy protection equivalent to that of the author's economic rights.

The term of protection of these rights shall be 25 years from the time when the work was first lawfully made available to the public.

ARTICLE 27

(1) The term of the economic rights in works of joint authorship shall be 70 years from the death of the last co-author.

ARTICLE 32

The periods laid down in this Chapter shall be calculated from 1 January of the year following the death of the author or the bringing to public notice of the work, as the case may be.

ARTICLE 33

(1) The following uses of a work previously made known to the public shall be permitted without the consent of the author and without payment of any remuneration, provided that they are in accordance with good usage, do not conflict with the normal exploitation of the work and do not prejudice the author or the holders of the exploitation rights:

(b) the use of short quotations from a work for purposes of analysis, comment or criticism or by way of example, provided that their use justifies the extent of the quotation;

(2) In the cases referred to in (b), (c), (e), (f) and (h), the source and the name of the author, if it appears on the work used, and in the case of works of fine art or architecture, the place where the original is located, shall be mentioned.

 

ART. 35

The transformation of a work, without the consent of the author and without payment of remuneration, is permitted in the following cases:

(a) if it is a private transformation which is not intended and not made available to the public;

b) if the result of the transformation is a parody or caricature, provided that the result does not create confusion as to the original work and its author;

c) if the transformation is required for the purpose of the use permitted by the author.

ARTICLE 39

(1) The author or copyright holder may assign by contract to other persons only his economic rights.

(2) The assignment of the author's economic rights may be limited to certain rights, for a certain territory and for a certain duration.

(3) The economic rights of the author or copyright holder may be transferred by exclusive or non-exclusive assignment.

(4) In the case of an exclusive assignment, the copyright owner himself may no longer use the work in the manner, for the term and for the territory agreed with the assignee, nor may he transfer that right to another person. The exclusive nature of the assignment must be expressly provided for in the contract.

(5) In the case of a non-exclusive assignment, the copyright owner may use the work himself and may transfer the non-exclusive right to other persons.

ART. 41

(1) The contract for the assignment of the economic rights must stipulate the economic rights transferred, the methods of exploitation, the duration and extent of the assignment and the remuneration of the copyright holder. The absence of any of these provisions shall entitle the interested party to request the cancellation of the contract.

(2) The assignment of the economic rights relating to all the future works of the author, whether nominated or not, shall be absolutely null and void.

ART. 43

1. The remuneration due under a contract for the assignment of economic rights shall be determined by agreement between the parties. The amount of the remuneration shall be calculated either in proportion to the income from the exploitation of the work or as a fixed sum or in any other way.

2.         Where remuneration has not been fixed by contract, the author may apply to the competent courts, in accordance with the law, for remuneration to be fixed. This shall be done having regard to the amounts usually paid for the same category of works, the purpose and duration of exploitation and other circumstances of the case.

(3) In the event of an obvious disproportion between the remuneration of the author of the work and the benefits of the person who has obtained the assignment of the economic rights, the author may request the competent courts to revise the contract or to increase the remuneration as appropriate.

ART. 44

(1) In the absence of a contractual clause to the contrary, for works created under an individual employment contract, the economic rights shall belong to the author of the work created. If such a clause exists, it shall include the term for which the author's economic rights have been assigned. In the absence of such a term, the term is three years from the date of delivery of the work.

(2) On the expiry of the period referred to in paragraph 3, the term referred to in paragraph 3 shall be (1) the economic rights shall revert to the author.

(3) The author of a work created under an individual employment contract shall retain the exclusive right of use of the work as part of the whole of his creation.

ART. 46

(1) The contract for the commission of a future work shall include both the term of delivery and the term of acceptance of the work by the users.

(2) The person commissioning the work shall have the right to terminate the contract if the work does not fulfil the conditions laid down. In the event of termination of the contract, the sums received by the author shall remain his property. If preparatory work has been carried out for the creation of a work which has been the subject of a commission contract, the author shall be entitled to reimbursement of the expenses incurred.

ART. 47

(1) The author may request the termination of the contract for the assignment of the economic right if the assignee does not exploit it or exploits it insufficiently and if the justified interests of the author are thereby considerably affected.

(2) The author may not request the termination of the assignment contract if the reasons for non-exploitation or insufficient exploitation are due to his own fault, the act of a third party, an act of God or force majeure.

(3) Termination of the contract of assignment referred to in paragraph 1 shall be deemed to have been effected in accordance with the provisions of this Article. (1) may not be requested before the expiry of two years from the date of the assignment of the economic right in a work. In the case of works assigned for daily publications, this period shall be three months and in the case of periodical publications, one year.

ART. 48

(1) By the publishing contract, the copyright holder assigns to the publisher, in return for remuneration, the right to reproduce and disseminate the work.

(2) An agreement by which the copyright owner authorises a publisher, at his own expense, to reproduce and, where appropriate, disseminate the work shall not constitute a publishing contract.

ART. 49

The copyright owner may also assign to the publisher the right to authorise the translation and adaptation of the work.

ART. 51

(1) The publishing contract must contain clauses on:

(a) the duration of the assignment;

b) the exclusive or non-exclusive nature and territorial extent of the assignment;

c) the maximum and minimum number of copies;

d) the remuneration of the author, established under the conditions of this Law;

(e) the number of copies reserved to the author free of charge;

(f) the time limit for the publication and distribution of copies of each edition or, as the case may be, of each print run;

(g) the deadline for delivery of the original work by the author;

h) the procedure for checking the number of copies produced by the publisher.

(2) The absence of any of the clauses referred to in points (a), (b) and (d) shall entitle the party concerned to request the cancellation of the contract.

ART. 53

The publisher shall be obliged to allow the author to make improvements or other alterations to the work in the case of a new edition, provided that such improvements or alterations do not substantially increase the publisher's costs and do not change the character of the work, unless the contract provides otherwise.

ART. 54

The publisher may assign the publishing contract only with the consent of the author.

ART. 55

The publisher shall be obliged to return to the author the original of the work, originals of works of art, illustrations and any other documents received for publication, unless otherwise agreed.

ART. 56

(1) In the absence of an agreement to the contrary, the publishing contract shall terminate after the expiry of the agreed term or after the exhaustion of the last agreed edition.

(2) An edition or print run whose number of unsold copies is less than 5% of the total number of copies, and in any case if it is less than 100 copies, shall be deemed to be exhausted.

(3) If the publisher does not publish the work within the agreed period, the author may, under common law, claim termination of the contract and damages for non-performance. In this case, the author shall retain the remuneration received or, where appropriate, may demand payment of the full remuneration provided for in the contract.

(4) If the time limit for publication of the work is not provided for in the contract, the publisher shall be obliged to publish it within a maximum of one year from the date of its acceptance.

(5) If the publisher intends to destroy the copies of the work remaining in stock after a period of two years from the date of publication, and if no other period is provided for in the contract, he shall first offer them to the author at the price which he would have obtained by sale for destruction.

ARTICLE 123

(1) The owner of copyright and related rights may exercise the rights recognized by this Law personally or, at their request, through collective management bodies.

(2) Copyright and related rights which, by their nature, correspond to a mode of exploitation of works or performances which makes individual authorisation taxable, are particularly susceptible to collective management. This category includes in particular the rights provided for in Article 13(g), (h), (j), (k) and (l) and Articles 17, 18, 102, 107 and 109 of this Law.

ARTICLE 124

Collective management bodies for copyright and related rights, referred to in the Law as collective management bodies, are, for the purposes of this Law, legal persons established by free association, whose main object of activity is the collection and distribution of the rights whose management is entrusted to them by the rightholders.

Laws governing the management of copyright:

- Law 8 of 1996 - Copyright Law

- HG 60 of 1997 - Copyright HG

- Law 186 of 2003 - Law on the Promotion of Culture

- Law 345 of 2002 - VAT Law

- Law 414 of 2002 - Corporate Income Tax Law

- Law 422 of 2001 - Law on Historical Monuments

- Law 64 of 1991 - Law on Patents and Inventions

- Law 86 of 1998 - Law on Geographical Indications

Berne Convention