What is copyright?

Copyright is part of the intellectual property right and in practice is a system of legal norms protecting the authors of works and regulating the relations during or on the occasion of the creation and use of these works. An author is a natural person, as a result of whose creative activity a work has been created, who in this sense is considered a copyright holder. Copyright arises for the author automatically, immediately with the creation of the work and lasts as long as the author is alive and for a certain period of time after his death. For Bulgaria, copyright is the main activity of the “Copyright and Related Rights” Directorate at the Ministry of Culture.

What is an object of copyright?

The following are not objects to copyright: ideas and concepts; folklore works; news, facts, information and data. In fact, copyright objects can generally be divided into two main categories:

Who are the copyright holders?

Until proven otherwise, the author of a work is considered to be the person whose name or another identifying sign is indicated in the usual way on the original of the work or copies thereof and/or their packaging. When the work is anonymous, the copyright is exercised by a natural or legal person who, with the consent of the author, has disclosed the work. In works with more than one author, the copyright belongs to them in common. The consent of all authors is required for each use of the work and recasting. If the parts of the work do not have an independent meaning, then each of the co-authors may allow their own use of the part. The remuneration of the co-authors is distributed among them in shares determined by agreement between them. In the absence of consent, the remuneration is distributed equally.

Other copyright holders

The copyright on a translation or adaptation belongs to the person who made it, without prejudice to the author’s rights. This does not prevent third parties from making their own translations or adaptations. The copyright on periodicals and encyclopedias belongs to a natural or legal person who ensures the creation or publication of the work. Copyright on collections, bibliographies and databases, etc. belongs to the person who performed the selection or arrangement unless otherwise provided in the contract. The consent of the author is required for the inclusion of works or parts thereof in such a work. The individual parts included in the works listed above, which have the character of works of literature, art, or science, belong to their authors.

The copyright on works of fine art and architecture belongs to the person who created the work and in cases where the ownership of the work belongs to another. The copyright on a work of photography, representing a portrait of another person, belongs to the author of the work. The creation of such a work requires the consent of the person being photographed, except when: the photo is made in an open or public place; the photo of the face is only a detail of an assembly, procession or landscape; the person being photographed has received remuneration for posing or nothing else has been agreed between him and the author.

What non-property rights does the author have?

The author has the right to decide whether the work created by him can be disclosed and to determine the time, place and manner in which this will take place. Exceptions are films, audio-visual works, works related to architecture, where this right is agreed by contract. The author may request recognition of his authorship of the work and decide whether the work should be disclosed anonymously or under a pseudonym. In this case, he may request that the name or nickname be marked accordingly in each use. The right of the author to request recognition of authorship or to request that his name or pseudonym to be indicated is inalienable.

The author has the right to seek the preservation of the integrity of the work and to oppose any changes in it, but also to change his work if it does not violate the rights acquired by others. The author has the right to access the original when it is necessary in order to exercise property or non-property rights or to stop using it due to changes in his beliefs, with the exception of the realized works of architecture.

It should be borne in mind that the author has no right to oppose the desire of the owner of a work of architecture to destroy, rebuild, upgrade or extend if this is done in accordance with applicable regulations. The exercise of non-property rights after the death of the author until the expiration of the term of protection is exercised by his heirs, except for the right to change the work and to suspend its use due to beliefs.

What property rights does the author have?

The author has the exclusive right to use the work created by him and to allow its use by others. The following actions are considered for use: reproduction of the work; distribution among an unlimited number of persons; public presentation or performance of the work; cable transmission or retransmission; public display of a work of art or photographic works; translation into another language; processing and synchronization; realization of an architectural project through construction or production; offering wirelessly or by cable in a way that allows the reproduction of an unlimited number of people in a place and at a time convenient for them; imports and exports to third countries. The author is entitled to remuneration for each type of use of the work and for each successive use.

What is the “free use” of works?

“Free use” of works is considered to be any use that does not infringe the rights of the author. Free use is permitted without the consent of the copyright holder and without payment of remuneration, but only in certain cases. Without the consent of the copyright holder, but upon payment of fair remuneration, the following is permissible: reproduction of non-commercial printed works, without sheet music and reproduction of works by a natural person for his personal non-commercial use.

The most common cases considered by law to be “free use”

∴ Temporary reproduction of works, if it has a transitional or incidental character and has no independent economic significance.

∴ Use of citations from already published works, indicating the name of the author.

∴ Use of parts of published works in other works in the volume necessary for analysis, commentary, or other types of scientific research, indicating the source and the name of the author. Such use is permissible only for scientific and educational purposes.

∴ Use as current information in the periodical press and other mass media of speeches, reports, sermons and others. They must be presented in public or public places. But when indicating the source and the name of the author, unless this is impossible.

∴ Reproduction by photographic, cinematographic, or similar means, as well as by sound recording or video recording of works related to a current event.

∴ Public presentation and public performance of published works in schools or other educational institutions. If they do not receive cash receipts or remuneration from the participants in the preparation and realization of the performance or performance.

∴ Reproduction of already published works in libraries, museums, educational establishments and archival institutions for educational or non-commercial storage purposes.

∴ Reproduction of already announced works in Braille.

∴ Use of works for the purposes of national security, in judicial or administrative proceedings.

∴ Use of works during religious ceremonies or ceremonies organized by public authorities.

Publishing contract

With the publishing contract, the author gives the publisher the right to reproduce and distribute the work, and the publisher undertakes to perform these actions and to pay the author a fee. A publishing contract may cede the right to reproduce and distribute a work already created or a work that the author undertakes to create. When, with a publishing contract, the author has transferred to the publisher the right to use the work in other ways than publishing, the publisher may assign the use in these other ways to third parties, if this is expressly agreed. The publishing contract is concluded in writing.

Unless otherwise provided in the publishing contract, it is considered that: the publisher has been assigned the right to only one edition; the publisher has been granted the right to publish the work in a circulation of up to ten thousand copies; the author is due remuneration in the amount of 15 percent of the retail price of each copy sold; the number of copies that the publisher will provide to the author free of charge shall not be less than five copies; the publisher has the right to publish the work in the language in which it was transmitted; the publisher has the right to distribute the publication only on the territory of the country of which he is a citizen or of which he has his registered office if he is a legal entity.