COPYRIGHT IN AN EMPLOYEE’S WORK

ECOVIS Miškinis, Kvainauskas ir partneriai advokatų kontora

(continued from last issue)

An employee as an author also has the exclusive economic rights to authorize or to prohibit any of the following acts: 1) reproduction of a work in any form or by any means; 2) publication of a work; 3) translation of a work; 4) adaptation, arrangement, dramatization or other transformation of a work; 5) distribution of the original or copies of a work to the public by sale, rental, lending, or by any other transfer of ownership or possession, as well as by exporting and importing; 6) public display of the original or copies of a work; 7) public performance of a work in any form or by any means; 8) broadcasting, retransmission of a work, as well as communication to the public of a work in any other way, including the making available to the public of a work over computer networks (on the Internet).

The most important feature of moral rights is that they cannot be transferred to an employer or any other person. The difference is set out by the law only in regard to the economic above-mentioned rights.

According to Art. 9 of the law, all the economic rights in a work created by an employee in the execution of his duties or fulfilment of work functions shall be transferred to an employer. However, it should be noted that such transference of economic rights is legally presumed only for a period of five years, unless otherwise is provided for by an agreement. Considering the fact that such a limited period can importantly affect an employer’s activity, it is always advisable to agree by a contract on which, and for how long, the economic rights will be transferred.