APPROVED by

                                                              the Council   of Authors of ARMAUTHOR

                                                                       By the Resolution of 18.01.2011

                                                                         

                                                                         Chairman Y. Yerznkyan 

 

Rule on Registration of Authors, Rightholders,

Works and Rights to the Works

 

General provisions

Registration of authors and rightholders

Registration of works and rights to the works

 

1. 1.      General provisions

 

This Rules (hereinafter referred to as “Rules”) is developed in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, Statutes of “Armauthor”, CISAC normative-legal documents and states the rules on registration of rightholders and remuneration receivers, registration of works and  rights to them for the purpose of collection, distribution and payment of authors’ remunerations.

For the purposes of this Rules the terms used herein have the following meaning:

“author” – physical person, as a result of whose intellectual activity the work is created;

“heir” – physical person who has total or partial rights to a work on the bases of certificate on right on heirloom or of court decision;

“rightholder” - physical person who has exclusive right on the work by law, or n the bases of a contract on alienation of right or other bases;

“database” – a set of data on autors and rightholders, works and rights to works registered in Armauthor, as well as other information which allows Armautor to carry out collection, distribution and payment of remuneration to authors and rightholders;

 

“work” – published musical work (with text or without), dramatical-musical, literary, stage, choriagraphic works, derivative or other works, which are not in public domain.

The Rules establishes the registration of authors and rightholders, the works and the rights to them, and is applicable to rightholders who have decided to sign contracts with Armauthor on authorization of collective management of their rights or who have already signed such contracts.  

The Rules is applicable to the legal relationships regarding contract between the rightholders and Armauthor, according to which collective management of economic rights for the following cases is carried out by Armauthor:   

-     Management of exclusive rights to published musical works (with text or without) and extracts of dramatical-musical works, their public performance, broadcast via air or cable transmission/retransmission; 

-     Management of exclusive rights to published works in case of their reproduction in material form, among them audio or video fixation, as well that on an electronic carrier, in the PC memory and the distribution of works via such ways, their public performance, broadcast via air and/or cabel transmission/retransmission, communication to the public, public display, including use in digital environment (internet, cellular mobile network, etc.);

-          Other use of works as well in cases established by law.

           The documents for registration and other blank forms used for being filled in by authors and other rightholders for assignment of rights to Armauthor (registration forms, applications for registration of works and other documents necessary for registration of rightholders and remuneration receivers as well as for registration of works and rights to them) are approved and adoped by the Council   of Authors.

The documents established by this Rules as well as those filled in and signed by rightholders on assignment of rights to Armauthor are accepted at the condition that they are filled in and signed in due form. The responsibility for authentication of the information in the documents lies fully on the person providing them.

The documents provided by this Rules (including the contract on collective management of rights which are signed by the authorsor rightholders) shall be presented to Armauthor by:

Authors or other physical person-rightholders

1. personally;
2. through authorized representatives who have authorization with notarial retification. A copy of the mentioned authorization shall be attached to the documents which are submitted to Armauthor by the representatives of rightholders.

The registration of wuthors or rightholders is carried out in the following way:

The author or rightholder, for signing of a contract, shall provide Armauthor with the following documents:

1. registration form, filled in in the due form and signed by rightholder;
2. a copy of the passport;
3. the underage citizens of the Republic of Armenia who have not reached to the age of 14 and live in the RA territory shall provide Armauthor with their certificate of birth and its copy, certified by the representative of the underage;
4. social cecurity card;
5. bank account;
6. contract filled in and signed by the rightholder.

The author or physical person-rightholder who is not a citizen of the Republico of Armenia shall provide Armauthor with the following documents:

1. the registration form filled in in due form in Armenian and signed by the rightholder;
2. the notarial translation of the passport of the foreign citizen or the document on type of residence in case the rightholder is a person having no citizenship;
3. The verification of the foreign collective management organization of the country of origin of the citizen stating that that very person is not a member of the CMO. If the rightholder is a member of such an organization he/she will provide Armauthor with a document from the CMO on the latter not objecting the assignment of the collective management of rights to Armauthor.
4. The contract filled in and signed by the author or rightholder;
5. Bank account.

The contracts shall be signed according to blank forms, which are approvd by the Authors’ Council   and Armauthor.

The contract is signed in simple written form in Armenian in two copies. One of the copies is kept in Armauthor (in the personal file of the author or rightholder), the other copy is given to the author or rightholder.

The data on rightholders is registered in the database of Armauthor.

The changes in the database are made in the following particular cases:

1. Death of the physical person (on the bases of death certificate):
2. In case of succession with respect to author’s works the successor has the right to be registered as new rightholder in Armauthor as well as register those works and rights to them in the order establishe by this Statutes. The above actions are done only at presence of the documents verifying the succession. 

The documents verifying the succession are: copies of documents with notarial verification on right in inheritance of author’s rights; copies of contracts verified by the rightholder on authorization of alienation of exclusive rights, exclusive license on use of works; copies of court decisions verified by courts, and/or other documents.

 

2. Registration of works and rights in them

 

The registration of works in Armauthor is made on the bases of conract on authorization of management of rights signed between Armauthor and author or rightholder.

The registration of works and right in them is of declarative character, i.e. does not demand documentary approval from any body.

The registration of works and right in them by other rightholders is made on the bases of verification documents, namely the certificate verifying the succession of author’s rights, contract on alienation of exclusive rights, exclusive license on use of works, court decisions and/or other documents.

For registration of works and right in them the author or roghtholder shall do the following actions:

1. Fill in the approved application form on registration of works and rghts in them and sign it;
2. Provide Armauthor with materials, i.e. works which are expressed in an objectively comprehensive form (notes written on paper carriers, phonograms, videograms, texts of works witten on paper carriers, choreographic partiturs, scatches, pictures, photographs, etc.) the copies of which shall bare the rightholder’s signature and the name, surname and patronym.

 

3.  Specifications of registration of separate categories of works in Armauthor

 

Derivative works (adaptations, arrangements, staging, translations, etc.) shall be registered in Armauthor by the author of the derivative work in the condition that Armauthor is provided with a verified document of agreement signed between the author of the derivative work and the author of the original work or his/her successor (hereinafter referred to as “the author of the original work”) authorizing the adaptation of the original work. 

The author of the derivative work may provide Armauthor with a copy of the written authorization on adaptation, signed by the author of the original work.

The agreement or authorization sign with the author of the original work shall be provided to Armauthor provided that the term of copyright in the original work has not expired.

The adaptation of the copyrighted original works of foreign authors shall be registered in Armauthor on the bases of the appropriate agreement on adaptation provided by the author of the derivative work.

The works shall be deemed to be registered in Armauthor from the moment of receipt of the documents and materials stated in the Statutes.

In case arguments on authorship or right in particular works registered in Armauthor arise all the actions regarding the distribution of royalties for works under argument shall be stopped before Armauthor is provided with relevant official documents on solution of the argument.

Data on foreign rightholders whose rights are collectively managed by foreign organizations are registered in the database of Armauthor on the bases of information received from international databases CIS-NET, WID and IPI.