CZECH REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Daniela Kozáková, ŠIROKÝ ZRZAVECKÝ, attorneys-at-law
infringement of copyright (see next paragraph), vari - ous fines may be imposed on the rights infringer in accordance with Sections 105a–105c of the Copyright Act. Criminal Liability Anyone who unlawfully interferes, not insignificantly, with the legally protected rights to a copyrighted work, artistic performance, sound or audiovisual recording, radio or television broadcast, press publication or database commits the crime of infringement of copy - right, rights related to copyright and database rights, and may be punished by imprisonment for up to two years (for a basic criminal offence), a ban on activity, or forfeiture of property (Section 270 (1) of the Criminal Code). In the case of a criminal offence by which the offender obtains significant benefit or causes substan - tial damage (CZK1 million or higher), or is doing so as part of a business activity, imprisonment may be imposed for a term of six months to five years, a fine, or forfeiture of property; if damage or the benefit is very substantial (CZK10 million or higher), a three to eight-year sentence could be imposed. 3.2 Registering Artwork The copyright to a work arises when the work is expressed in any objectively perceivable form, in par - ticular when it is recorded on a tangible medium (can - vas, paper), or performed or recorded. According to Section 2 paragraph 6 of the Copyright Act, the work protected by copyright is not the subject matter of the work in itself, an idea, procedure, principle, method, data itself, discovery, scientific theory, mathematical formula, and so on. Copyright protection in the Czech Republic is infor - mal, with work protected from the moment of its creation. However, in the event of a dispute over authorship, the author is obliged to provide proof of the moment of creation of the work, which can, in practice, cause difficulties. The easiest way to prove creation of a work is by its presentation to the public. If a work is not immediately presented to the public, it is important to record its creation and completion by other means. For this reason, it is recommended to keep all preparatory materials, such as sketches and documents, etc.
Other possibilities that are not commonly used in practice are: (i) having the work evidenced by one of the collective administrators established under the Copyright Act; or (ii) escrow of the work (the mate - rial object) with a notary or attorney-at-law. However, the latter is simply procedural, showing that the work existed at the time of escrow. 3.3 Resale Right According to the Czech Copyright Act, if art is sold by an entrepreneur, defined as “a gallery operator, auc - tioneer or any other person who consistently deals in works of art and takes part in the sale as a seller, purchaser or intermediary”, and for at least EUR1,500 (exclusive of VAT), authors (or their heirs) are entitled to royalties from such a resale (resale right) subject to conditions specified in Appendix 1 to the Copyright Act. The royalty differs based on the value of the work, and cannot be higher than EUR12,500 per item. The royal - ties are to be paid to the relevant collective adminis - trator (GESTOR). However, the first resale is excluded from the resale right if the seller acquired the work directly from the author within three years of the resale and for a price of EUR10,000 or less. 3.4 Using Copyrighted Images Based on the Czech legal system, in principle, down - loading a copyrighted work from a legitimate source exclusively for personal use by a natural person when this is not for direct or indirect economic or com - mercial benefit is not illegal, being one of the statu - tory licences of free use. There are, however, certain exceptions to this rule, set down in the Copyright Act, such as computer programs or electronic databases. Copyright is not infringed by a person who makes a recording, reproduction or imitation of a work for their personal use, provided that a copy or imitation made for personal use cannot be used for any purpose other than specified (and in the case of works of visual art it must be clearly marked as a copy). Other uses by natural or legal persons must be allowed, based on the law, or may be permitted contractually by licence agreements. Such agreements are gov -
27 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook