Copyright and Related Rights

Copyright is the author’s right in respect of his copyright work.

The authors of the works in the literary, scientific and artistic domains of creativity have the exclusive right to use theirs works, and to authorise or prohibit others to use the works, except in explicitly prescribed cases.

The author may prohibit, or authorise under agreed conditions, reproduction, distribution, any kind of communication to the public, and translation or adaptation of his work.

The authors frequently cede the property (economic) rights in their works by contracts to natural or legal persons that may commercially exploit them to the best possible extent, subject to payment of remunerations that depend on the use of the work. However, moral rights of the author remain forever in his possession and they cannot be transferred, except in case of the author’s death.

Copyright does not protect an idea but a copyright work, expressing the idea of the human mind, irrespective of the form or quality of such expression. Copyright in a work is conferred to its author by the mere act of creation of the work and, unlike the majority of other forms of intellectual property, it is not subject to any administrative or registration procedure, or a procedure of mandatory deposit of a copy of the work.

In addition to the authors who have rights in respect of their copyright works, persons or organisations participating in mediation of copyright works to the public have also certain rights. Such related rights are close (i.e. related or neighbouring) to copyright, they presume the existence of a copyright work and have their special subject matter of protection.

The Copyright and Related Rights Act is a national regulation providing for the protection of copyright and related rights in the Republic of Croatia, and this field is also regulated by legal framework of the European Union and international agreements.

In Croatia, according to the Copyright and Related Rights Act, in addition to the copyright, related rights have been also prescribed providing protection to:

1.    Performers in their performances;
2.    Phonogram producers in their phonograms;
3.    Audiovisual producers in their videograms;
4.    Broadcasting organisations in their programme signals;
5.    Publishers of press publications in their press publications;
6.    Producers of non-original databases in their non-original databases;
7.    Publishers in their written editions.