This week we will continue the basic IPR series for Cambodia and focus on the copyright protection. Today’s blog post gives a general overview of copyright protection in Cambodia and discusses the importance of voluntarily registering your copyright. You will also find information on how to enforce your copyright in the unfortunate case of copyright infringement.
Copyright in Cambodia
Copyright is an intellectual property right that protects creations of the mind. These rights, generally, include: copying; publishing; translating; adapting and altering; distributing; etc. and are granted automatically following the creation of the work.
The Cambodian Copyright Law grants the exclusive legal right to authors and other right holders to exploit their “works, production of cultural products, performances, phonograms, and transmissions of broadcasting organizations”.
Even though, copyright normally enjoys automatic protection in most South-East Asian countries from the moment of its creation, the European SMEs should keep in mind that this is not always the case in Cambodia. Foreign works do not enjoy automatic protection in Cambodia, even though Cambodia is a member of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). As not all Cambodia’s national laws are yet in accordance to the TRIPS regulations, Cambodia currently does not grant similar protection to foreign works as it does for Cambodian works. Cambodia has to comply with the TRIPS agreement by 2021. Continue reading “Copyright Protection in Cambodia” »