As a student, you probably work with texts, images, sounds, and films created by others not only for studying but also for personal purposes. These can be resources you have purchased, borrowed from the library, or found online. This guide aims at helping you to use other people’s works legally.

VN IP Law covers categories including Copyright and Related Rights, Geographical Indications, Industrial Designs, Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits, Patents (Inventions), Trade Names, Trademarks, etc.

• Creative works, such as written materials, photographs, paintings, drawings, graphics, music, and videos, are protected by copyright while business/ product names, logos, and other signs used in advertising, are protected as trademarks in Intellectual Property Law and Advertising Law.
• A website design is likely to be protected by copyright.
• A print ads, slogan, and other layout-designs may be protected, under circumstances, by copyright and/or by industrial property rights.

An important note is that a work is automatically protected by copyright as soon as it is put into a physical form, even when it is not attached with a copyright statement (All right reserved) or symbol (©).

‘A license is a document that specifies what can and cannot be done with a work (whether sound, text, image or multimedia). It grants permissions and states restrictions. Broadly speaking, an open license is one which grants permission to access, re-use and redistribute a work with few or no restrictions.’ (Open Definition n.d., para 1).

The following graph illustrates the difference between All right reserved copyright and Open license.

Source: Difference between open license and copyright with all rights reserved, by Boyoung Chae,

Wikimedia Commons, is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

The typical and common open licenses applied for works (such as texts, images, sounds, and films) are Creative Commons Licenses (CC). You can learn more about CC at links below:

• Library subject guides on CC
• Frequently Asked Questions on CC website

Reference:

Chae, B 2013, 'Difference between open license and copyright with all rights reserved', online image, Commons.wikimedia.org, accessed July 12, 2018, from <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Difference_between_open_license_and_copyright_with_all_rights_reserved.jpg>.

Geere, D 2011, 'The history of Creative Commons', online newspaper, Wire, 13 December, Wired.co.uk, accessed November 16, 2018, from <https://www.wired.co.uk/article/history-of-creative-commons>.

Open Definition 2018, 'Guide to Open Licensing', Opendefinition.org, accessed November 16, 2018, from <https://opendefinition.org/guide/>.

Article 199, Vietnam Intellectuals Property (VN IP) Law amended 2009 states:
‘Organizations and individuals that commit acts of infringing upon intellectual property rights of other organizations and individuals shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of such infringements, be handled with civil, administrative or criminal remedies.’

Have you ever wondered if there are any students sued for copyright infringement and how did they get caught? Watch the video below.

Soundzabound 2013, Copyright Awareness for Students (3 minute video), YouTube, 20 February, Soundzabound, Atlanta, viewed on 14 November 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jim0bgaT2A&list=PLXzlZgzLDa2cnsfd34OccyXeyIhw_rvTF&index=2>