BANGLADESH Law and Practice Contributed by: A B M Shamsud Doulah, Rajin Ahmed and A B M Sohailud Doulah, Doulah & Doulah
3. Copyright Ownership, Protection and Rights 3.1 Types of Copyrightable Works Copyright protection encompasses a diverse array of works spanning various categories. Works eligible for safeguarding include (non-exhaustively):
mediums encompass paper, canvas, digital storage and other formats allowing recording or storage. • Expression of ideas – copyright safeguards the expression of ideas rather than the ideas them - selves. Protection extends to the specific form, arrangement or presentation of the ideas, not the underlying concepts or facts. • Minimum creativity – while the creativity thresh - old for copyright protection is relatively modest, some originality or creative input by the author is required. Works lacking even minimal creativity may fall short of eligibility. • Independence from other works – the work must be independent, not a direct copy of another. While drawing inspiration from existing works is permit - ted, the new work should exhibit sufficient original - ity to differentiate it from its sources. • Not falling into excluded categories – certain cat - egories may be excluded from copyright protec - tion, such as ideas, facts, methods, systems and utilitarian objects. Copyright shields expression, not ideas or the functional aspects of objects. • Duration – copyright protection is finite, typically spanning the life of the author plus 60 years or a specified period for anonymous or corporate works. 3.3 Copyright Authorship Authorship Authorship finds its definition within the Copyright Act, 2023. As per statute, the author is the originator of the work. Authorship, for copyright considerations, demands original and creative contributions from an individual. Intellectual effort must be evident in the creation of the work. Work created by an employee during employment or designated as such by agreement falls under “work made for hire”. In these instances, the employer or the commissioning party assumes authorship. Bangladesh’s Copyright Act does not explicitly address non-human authors such as AI or animals. The legal acknowledgment of non-human authors remains a complex and evolving area.
• literary works; • musical works; • dramatic works; • artistic works; • audiovisual works; • sound recordings; • broadcasts; • software; and • databases. • architectural works; • choreographic works;
Underpinning these rights is the Copyright Act, 2023. Industrial designs, not typically within the purview of copyright, fall under the Designs Act, 2023. These designs, governed by design law, protect visually appealing non-utilitarian objects. Copyright protec - tion automatically arises upon work creation, though registration – while not obligatory – offers enforcement advantages. 3.2 Essential Elements of Copyright Protection In Bangladesh, copyright protection hinges on spe - cific prerequisites. The critical components for secur - ing copyright include the following. • Originality – originality is a foundational crite - rion, necessitating that the work results from the author’s independent, creative effort. It should not be a mere copy or imitation. • Authorship – the work must be attributed to a human author or creator, as copyright typically applies to individuals generating original content. Works by artificial intelligence (AI) or non-human entities may not enjoy the same copyright protec - tion. • Fixation in a tangible medium – the work must be fixed in a tangible medium, making it perceptible, reproducible or communicable over time. Tangible
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