Copyright Registration Dominican Republic
Enacting of Law 65-00 was made in order to comply with requirements set by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on violations of copyrights in which Dominican Republic has one of the first places in the world for being responsible of a high level of infractions on this concern against copyrights particularly against software and music business.
Law 65-00 protects any original intellectual creation, whether literary, artistic or scientific, that may be fixed, transmitted or copied by any existing or future printing, reproduction or divulgation methods. It also protects independent creations deriving from original works, such as those resulting from adapting, translating or in any other manner transforming the original work. It also protects, and regulates the exercise of, related rights, which are granted to performing artists for their performances, phonogram producers for their recordings, and broadcasters their radio and television programs.
Moreover, law 65-00 protects works from authors having Dominican nationality or residing in the country, or who are nationals or residents of countries belonging to the international treaties ratified by the Dominican Republic, as well as works whose first publication has been made in the country (or in a member country of ratified international treaties) or that have been published here (or in a member country of ratified international treaties) thirty days after their first publication. In the absence of international treaties, protection will still be granted to foreign works, but subject to reciprocity.
Copyrights registration is not mandatory for enjoying the protection of the law and this non-registration does not affect the exercise of the author’s rights arising from the material creation; however, it is strongly advisable to register and thus reinforce by the publicity and guaranties of authenticity and security that ONDA provides the protection of copyrights.
Violations of intellectual property rights may be subject to criminal sanctions including fines and prison of up to three years. Administrative measures may be applied by ONDA and include warnings, fines, temporary or permanent closure of establishments, seizure of illegal copies or machinery used for their production, destruction of illegal samples and others.
Documents required for copyright registration in Dominican Republic:
6 copies of the work to be registered and 2 digitalized copies thereof (either in diskette, compact disk or digital video disk)
General information on the author, its editor or representative, printing editor or the person in charge of handling author’s interests (if any)
Power of attorney form (please see trademarks)
General written information of the work to be registered including publication date, area of art or design applicable to this work.
Other requirements might apply for different work areas.
