Significance of Copyright Registration in Ethiopia
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Date
2023-01
Authors
Shiferaw Abebe
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Copyright works will get automatic legal protection as long as the work is
original and fixed in a material form, without formality requirement such as
publication and registration. Despite this general principle optional copyright
registration is introduced in the Ethiopian legal system. Even if registration is
not a prerequisite to get copyright protection, registering a copyright work has
a significant role for criminal and civil proceedings and it also plays a significant
role for transfer of rights, for access of finance and for claiming tax credit
services. However in this study the researcher concludes copyright registration
law of Ethiopia is not designed to address the social, cultural, economic and
archival objectives of the country and the laws are full of gaps in addressing
issues related with registration. The Ethiopian Intellectual property Authority
copyright registration system, mainly its data base, filing system and
organization of the registered works do not meet the standards of the digital
age. For instance the data system of the Authority does not give full information
to those users who want to claim compulsory license on a certain work or to
identify whether a given work period of protection is lapsed or not.
Description
Keywords
Significance of Copyright. Registration in Ethiopia.