HAITI Law and Practice Contributed by: Vanessa Abdel-Razak, Ludsen Saint-Phar and Webster Registre, Cabinet Abdel-Razak & Associés
it or make it available to the public, perform or dis - play it publicly, translate, adapt, arrange or otherwise transform it, and authorise or prohibit any such uses by third parties. These economic rights are generally transferable and licensable and subsist for the dura - tion of the copyright term (subject to statutory limita - tions and exceptions), after which the work enters the public domain. The jurisdiction does recognise moral rights, which are also established by statute in the same Decree. Moral rights are personal, inalienable and perpetual (or, at minimum, survive the transfer of economic rights) and include the right of attribution (paternity), the right to respect for the integrity of the work (to object to dis - tortion, mutilation or prejudicial modification) and, in certain circumstances, the right of disclosure. Moral rights remain with the author regardless of any assign - ment or licensing of economic rights and do not lapse in the same way as economic rights, reflecting their close link to the author’s personality rather than to commercial exploitation. 3.5 Term of Protection and Termination Term of protection: Copyright protection subsists for the life of the author plus 60 years after death under the Decree of 12 October 2005 on Copyright and Related Rights. For joint works, the term runs from the death of the last surviving author. For collective works or works published under a legal entity’s name, the term is generally 60 years from first lawful publica - tion. Related rights (eg, performers, producers) have distinct statutory terms. Termination of rights: Copyright is not terminable at will before the end of the statutory term. Rights end only by expiration of the term, waiver or renunciation where permitted, or contractual termination in accord - ance with the parties’ agreement (eg, breach). The law does not provide a US-style statutory “termina - tion of transfer” right that allows authors to recapture assigned rights after a fixed period. Scope of termination: Because there is no statutory termination-of-transfer mechanism, not all rights are eligible for termination as a matter of law. Econom - ic (patrimonial) rights may be assigned or licensed and may end according to the contractual terms or
upon expiry of the copyright term. Moral rights (eg, attribution and integrity) are inalienable and endur - ing and therefore cannot be terminated by contract; they remain with the author irrespective of transfers of economic rights. Types of works: The rules apply broadly across cat - egories of copyrighted works. There are no categories of works that are subject to a special statutory ter - mination regime, and correspondingly no categories excluded from termination beyond the general princi - ple that moral rights are non-terminable and economic rights persist until term expiry or contractual end. 3.6 Collective Rights Management Systems In Haiti, collective rights management is recognised and organised primarily through the Bureau Haïtien du Droit d’Auteur (BHDA), which operates as the national authority responsible for copyright and related rights administration. The system is governed by the Decree of 12 October 2005 on Copyright and Related Rights, which provides the statutory basis for collective man - agement organisations and authorises the collective administration of certain economic rights, particu - larly in the music and audiovisual sectors (including authors, composers, performers and producers). Under this framework, collective management organi - sations are empowered to license uses of works on behalf of rights holders, collect and distribute royal - ties, monitor uses, enforce rights and represent mem - bers in infringement actions, subject to oversight by the BHDA. While collective management is most developed for musical works and related rights, the legal framework allows for collective administration in other sectors (such as publishing and visual arts), even if institutional structures in those areas remain less formalised in practice. 3.7 Copyright Registration Copyright protection in Haiti arises automatically upon creation of an original work fixed in a tangible form, and registration is not required to qualify for protec - tion. Registration is optional but may provide eviden - tiary benefits, including proof of authorship, date of creation and priority, which can facilitate enforce - ment, although it is not a prerequisite to bringing a civil action. A copyright register exists and is admin - istered by the BHDA; it is maintained administrative -
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