LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

of July 28, 2022 No. 230

About copyright and the related rights

The parliament adopts this organic law.

This law shifts:

- The directive 93/83/EES of Council of September 27, 1993 about coordination of number of the rules concerning protection of copyright and the related rights in the sphere of satellite broadcasting and cable relaying published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 248 of October 6, 1993 with the changes made by the Directive (EU) 2019/789 European Parliament and Council of April 17, 2019;

- The directive 96/9/EU of the European Parliament and Council of March 11, 1996 about legal protection of databases published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 77 of March 23, 1996;

- The directive 2001/29/EU of the European Parliament and Council of May 22, 2001 about harmonization of some aspects of copyright and the related rights in information society published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 167 of June 22, 2001 with the changes made by the Directive (EU) 2019/790 European Parliament and Council of April 17, 2019;

- The directive 2001/84/EU of the European Parliament and Council of September 27, 2001 about the following right for the benefit of the author of the original of the work of art published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 272 of October 13, 2001;

- The directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and Council of April 29, 2004 about ensuring compliance with the intellectual property rights (the text extends to the EEA) published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 157 of April 30, 2004;

- The directive 2006/115/EC of the European Parliament and Council of December 12, 2006 about the lease right, the right of free use and some rights adjacent to copyright, in the sphere of intellectual property (the codified option), published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 376 of December 27, 2006;

- The directive 2006/116/EU of the European Parliament and Council of December 12, 2006 about the term of protection of copyright and some related rights (the codified option) published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 372 of December 27, 2006 with the changes made by the Directive 2011/77/EU of the European Parliament and Council of September 27, 2011;

- The directive 2009/24/EU of the European Parliament and Council of April 23, 2009 about legal protection of computer programs (the codified option) (the text extends to the EEA) published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 111 of May 5, 2009;

- The directive (EU) 2017/1564 European Parliament and Council of September 13, 2017 about some permitted types of use of the certain works and other objects protected by copyright and the related rights for the benefit of blind people and persons with violations of sight or other limited capabilities to perceive the printing information supplementing the Directive 2001/29/EU on harmonization of some aspects of copyright and the related rights in information society published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 242 of August 20, 2017;

and also partially shifts:

- The directive (EU) 2019/789 European Parliament and Council of April 17, 2019 establishing rules of application of provisions of copyright and the related rights concerning separate Internet broadcasts of the broadcasting companies and relayings of radio - and TV programs and the supplementing Directive of Council 93/83/EEC (the text extends to the EEA), published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 130 of May 17, 2019;

- The directive 2014/26/EU of the European Parliament and Council of February 26, 2014 about collective management of copyright and the related rights and multiterritorial licensing of the rights to pieces of music for the purpose of on-line use in the domestic market (the text extends to the EEA) published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 84 of March 20, 2014;

- The directive (EU) 2019/790 European Parliament and Council of April 17, 2019 about copyright and the related rights in the single digital market, and also about change of Directives 96/9/EU and 2001/29/EU (the text extends to the EEA), published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 130 of May 17, 2019

Chapter I General provisions

Article 1. Legal basis

(1) Copyright and the related rights, protection of these rights and responsibility for their violation are regulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, international treaties which party is the Republic of Moldova, this law and other regulations.

(2) This law regulates copyright and the related rights, management of these rights, the organization and the functioning of the organizations of collective management, and also the procedure and legal remedy applied in case of copyright violation and the related rights.

(3) the Provisions of this law concerning computer programs and databases do not affect the situations relating to patents for inventions, registered trade marks, industrial drawings and models, useful models, topography of integrated chips, protection of national property, restrictive practicians and unfair competition, trade secret, safety, confidentiality and data protection and respect of the private life, information access which is of public interest, and in contract law.

Article 2. International agreements. National treatment

(1) the Protection provided by this law is applied to the authors and owners of copyright and the related rights who are citizens of the Republic of Moldova or taking in it the residence or, in case of legal entities, taking the location in the territory of the Republic of Moldova.

(2) Foreign physical persons or legal entities use the mode, equal with citizens of the Republic of Moldova, concerning copyright and the related rights.

(3) If the international treaty which party is the Republic of Moldova establishes other regulations, than those which are provided by this law are applied regulations of the international treaty.

Article 3. Basic concepts

For the purpose of this law the following basic concepts are used:

the agreement on representation - the act signed between the organizations of collective management to which the organization of collective management authorizes other organization of collective management to manage the rights which that for it represents;

action taken in commercial scales - the action directed to receipt of sure or indirect economic or commercial gain. Honesty made action of the final consumer is not considered action taken in commercial scales;

the author - physical person / physical persons who created/created the work;

the author of the database - physical person / physical persons who created/created the database. When the database is created jointly by several physical persons, exclusive rights belong jointly to these persons;

the database - set of the works, data or other independent elements ordered systematically or methodically to which it is possible to provide individual access by means of electronic or other means;

payment for management - the amount which is levied, keeps or compensated by the organization of collective management from the income from the rights or any investment incomes of the income from the rights for covering of expenses on services in management of copyright or the related rights;

the public message - the message of the work performed directly or by means of any technical means in the place open for garden leave, or in other place where the large number of persons which are not belonging to regular circle of family and close acquaintances including scenic submission, the recitation or any other public performance or direct submission of the work, public exhibition of works of fine, applied, photographic and architectural arts, public display of pieces of screen and other audiovisual works, including performing digital art, representation gathers in the public place by means of any means, including by means of soundtracks or videograms, the work transferred to air. The right to permit or forbid the public message of works is not considered the exhausted any action according to the public message;

the public message via the satellite - transfer under control and under responsibility of the broadcasting or television organization located in the territory of the Republic of Moldova, signals carriers of the programs intended for acceptance by the population for the continuous communication chain conducting to the companion and back to the earth;

the private copy - reproduction is lawful the published work on any equipment and the material carrier which can be used for such reproduction irrespective of whether the used process is analog or digital provided that reproduction is performed by physical person exclusively for personal reasons and the aim of receipt of any sure or indirect commercial gain is not pursued;

the piracy control unit of access - the device manufactured without the permission of the owner of the rights recognized by this law concerning certain television program complex with the caused access, intended for simplification of access to this complex;

distribution - introduction into circulation by sale or transfer into the ownership different way, for a fee or gratuitously, the original or copies of the work or certain objects of the related rights, and also their public offer. The right to distribution is exhausted in case of the first sale or the first transfer of property on the original or copies of the work in the territory of the Republic of Moldova by the owner or from its consent;

the right to audiovisual adaptation - exclusive right of the author or owner of copyright of already existing work to process it or to include it in the audiovisual work. Having signed the agreement on adaptation, the author or the owner of copyright of already existing work transfers exclusive right for conversion and inclusion of the corresponding work in the audiovisual work to the manufacturer. The permission issued by the author or the owner of copyright of already existing work shall provide directly conditions of production, broadcastings and display of the audiovisual work;

transfer of the broadcasting and television organization - the transfer which is directly created by the broadcasting and television organization or for its order and by its financial means;

the authorized subject - non-profit organization, authorized or recognized as the state for provision to beneficiaries of educational services, services in the field of pedagogical preparation, adaptive reading or information access. This concept also includes the public organization or non-profit organization providing the same services to beneficiaries as one of the core activities or the institutional obligations or within the missions which are of public interest in sense of Articles 58 and 59;

copy in available format - the copy of the work or other object of protection created by alternative method or in alternative form and allowing the beneficiary to get access to works or other protected objects, the assuming access in the same reliable and comfortable conditions, as those which person who is not suffering from any of violations or restrictions of the opportunities specified in the concept "beneficiary", in sense of Articles 58 and 59 uses;

folklore samples - form in which are expressed by local communities cultural practice and traditional knowledge imparted from generation to generation as integral part of originality and traditional heritage of this community. Samples of folklore can take the tangible or intangible forms or combine them, they are dynamic and constantly develop, including, along with other, fairy tales, legends, verses, riddles, songs, musical instruments, dances, theatrical plays, ceremonies, ceremonies and rituals, traditional games and sports, doll representations, national crafts and products of national trade, architectural objects, ceremonial masks or clothes, other embodiments of spiritual culture;

extraction - permanent or temporary transfer of all contents of the database or its part which is essential according to assessment from the point of view of quality or quantity on other carrier any means or in any form;

fixing - the imprinting of sounds, images or sounds and images or their digital display on any medium allowing to perceive them, to reproduce or carry out their public message by means of any device;

audiovisual fixing - imprinting of the moving images accompanied or not accompanied with sounds or their displays which can be perceived, reproduced or be reported by means of any device;

soundtrack - exclusively sound fixing of any execution, the work or sounds or their display, except for the sound fixings included in the audiovisual work;

the soundtrack published for commercial purposes - the soundtrack brought to the general attention by sale or by means of wire or wireless means in such a way that any person can get access to it in any place and at any time at the personal choice;

provider of online service of joint use of content - provider of service of information community which single or main objective is storage and provision to the users of opportunity to load and share large number of works or other protected objects for the purpose of direct or indirect profit earning by the organization and promotion of the corresponding content with commercial purpose, including by assignment to it rating and use of target promotion, for the purpose of involvement of wider audience.

It is considered that the provider of online service of joint use of content stores and provides access to the large volume of content protected by copyright and the related rights depending on such factors as its role in the market of on-line content, the competition to other on-line content services, such as on-line services of stream audio and video oriented to the same audience, the number of the files with the protected content loaded by users of service.

Do not treat providers of online services of joint use of content: non-commercial online encyclopedias, non-commercial educational or scientific archives, platforms for development and joint use of the open software, service providers of electronic communication, the online markets and the cyberlocker platforms, corporate cloud services, and also the cloud services allowing users to load content for private use;

information on management of the rights - information provided by the author or the owner which allows to identify the work or other object protected by this law, the author or the owner or information on conditions or methods of use of the work or other protected object, and also any figures and codes displaying such information;

the contractor - the actor, the singer, the musician, the dancer or other person who represents, recites, sings, plays role, dances, performs or otherwise participates performed by literary or works of art, including folklore samples;

provision in temporary free use - provision of the work or object of the related right in use for certain term and without the purpose of extraction of sure or indirect economic or commercial gain when it is performed through public objects;

delivery in hire (for rent) - provision of the work or object of the related right in use for certain term for the purpose of extraction of sure or indirect economic or commercial gain;

piracy products - all copies, including covers, irrespective of the carrier, made without the consent of the author, the owner or legally authorized by the owner of person which directly or indirectly, are fully or partially executed from product carrier of copyright or the related rights or from its packaging or covers;

technical measures of protection - technology, the device or component which in case of normal functioning are designed for the prevention or restriction on works or other protected subjects to the actions which are not permitted by authors, owners of copyright or the related rights or the owner of the right of sui generis;

the managed circle - the circle in which the operator of services of relaying provides to authorized users safe relaying;

the operator of services of relaying - the operator uniting TV and radio programs in packets and reporting to their users along with their initial transfer to air without changes and in complete form, with use of various methods of relaying, such as cable relaying, satellite relaying, land digital system and mobile networks or networks of the closed chain on the basis of the Internet protocol (IP protocol), and also through services of Internet access;

the work or other object of protection - the work provided in the form of the book, the periodical, the newspaper, the magazine or other types of the text, notations including scores, and also illustrations relating to them on any medium, including in audioformat, in particular, audiobooks, and in digital format which is protected by copyright or the related rights and which on legal causes is published or is otherwise brought to the general attention in sense of Articles 58 and 59;

the audiovisual work - the work consisting of the sequence of the images connected among themselves created in any manner and on any medium accompanied or which are not accompanied with sound making the impression of movement intended for visual and acoustical (if images are followed by sound) perceptions by means of certain device. For the purposes of this law cinema movies, television movies, animation movies, music video clips, advertizing filmlets and documentaries are considered as audiovisual works;

the collective work - the work created by several physical persons which contribution constitutes whole so it is impossible to determine contribution of each of them, by initiative and under the direction of physical person or legal entity which will publish the work under the name;

the joint work - the work created by common efforts of two or more persons (coauthors) irrespective of whether it constitutes whole or consists of parts;

originality - the criterion necessary for determination of nature of the work which is subject to protection by copyright which considers the expression form inherent in the work which is reflection of intellectual creative activities, the talent and the identity of the author who found the embodiment by the free creative choice;

the beneficiary - in sense of Articles 58 and 59 person, which, irrespective of other restrictions of opportunities:

a) is blind person;

b) suffers from violation of sight which cannot be corrected for achievement of visual function, almost equivalent visual function of person which does not have such violations and thereof is not able to read printing works almost in the same way, as well as person who is not suffering from such violation;

c) suffers from disorder of perception or difficulties with reading and thereof is not able to read printing works almost in the same way, as well as person who is not suffering from such violation;

d) has the physical defect which is not allowing to hold the book in hands either to use it or to focus on it look or to make the same movements of eyes which in regular life are necessary for reading;

the manufacturer of the database - the physical person or legal entity which performed considerable quantitative and high-quality investments for the purpose of obtaining, checks or displays of contents of certain database;

the manufacturer of soundtracks - physical person or legal entity, on initiative and under which responsibility, including financial, the first fixing of sounds of execution, other sounds or display of sounds is performed;

the manufacturer of audiovisual works - physical person or legal entity, on initiative and under which responsibility, including financial, the audiovisual work is created;

the manufacturer of videograms - physical person or legal entity, on initiative and under which responsibility, including financial, the videogram is fixed;

the computer program - the program sample, application programs and operating systems constituted in any language both in the form of the source code, and in the form of object code, preparatory project material and also managements. The ideas, acceptances, the functioning methods, mathematical concepts and the principles which are the cornerstone of any element of the computer program including those which are the cornerstone of its interfaces, algorithms and programming languages are not subject to protection;

publication - provision of the public of copies of the work, execution, soundtrack, the videogram or transfer with the consent of the author or the owner of copyright or the related rights in the quantity sufficient for satisfaction of reasonable requirements of the public. Are not publication: execution drama, musical and drama or piece of screen; execution of the piece of music; public recitation of the literary work; transfer to air literary or works of art; drawing of the work of the graphical or fine arts; construction of the work of architecture. The work is considered published in several countries at the same time if it was published in two or more countries within 30 days from the date of its first publication;

informing everyone - provision of the public of the work and/or object of the related rights through wire or wireless means, including the Internet, or other computer networks so that any representative of the public could get access to it from any place and at any time at the personal choice. The right to permit or forbid informing everyone is not considered the exhausted any of actions for informing everyone;

transfer to air - transfer of the work and/or object of the related rights by the broadcasting or television organization with use of any means serving for wireless transfer of signs, sounds or images or their displays including their public message via the satellite, for acceptance by the public or transfer of the work or its display through wire means, cable networks, networks of fiber-optical communication or any other similar method, except for open networks, for their acceptance by the public;

release of derivative works - transfer, the publication in collections, adaptation, and also any conversion of already existing work if it represents intellectual creation;

relaying - synchronous broadcast of transfer of other broadcasting organization by one broadcasting organization;

the director or, on circumstances, the producer of the audiovisual work - physical person which under the contract with the manufacturer assumes management of creation and release of the audiovisual work as the main author;

reproduction - production of one or several copies of the work or object of the related rights, direct or mediated, temporary or permanent, by all means and in any form, including for the purpose of audio-or video fixings and/or storages of the work or object of the related rights on material or electronic media;

reprography - the reproduction of the work on paper or any similar carrier performed by means of any kind of the photographic equipment or other process with similar action except the score provided that owners receive fair compensation;

the repertoire - set of works and/or objects of the related rights transferred to the control the organizations of collective management;

cable relaying - the synchronous not changed and unreduced relaying performed through cable or system of ultrashort-wave broadcasting for acceptance by the public of initial transfer through wire or wireless means, including via the satellite, radio - or TV programs intended for acceptance by the public irrespective of method of receipt of service of cable relaying of signals carriers of programs by the operator from the broadcasting organization for the purposes of relaying;

retransmissiya - the synchronous not changed and unreduced retransmissiya other than cable relaying, for acceptance by the public of initial transfer of the TV or radio programs intended for acceptance by the public when such initial transfer is performed through wire or wireless means including the satellite, but not online provided that retransmissiya:

a) it is performed by the party other than the broadcasting organization which performed initial transfer or under control and which responsibility performed initial transfer irrespective of the fact which in the way the party performing retransmissiya receives signals carriers of programs from the broadcasting organization for the purposes of retransmissiya; and

b) occurs in the managed circle through service of Internet access, that is the service of electronic communication intended for the public and providing Internet access and, thus, theoretical possibility of communication between all final points connected to the Internet irrespective of the used network technology and the terminal equipment;

reuse - form of informing everyone all contents of the database or its part essential from the point of view of quality or quantity, by distribution of copies, delivery in hire (for rent) or other methods, including by informing everyone content of base so that any person could get access to it in any place and at any time at the personal choice. The first domestic sale of the copy of the database by the owner of the right of sui generis or from its consent exhausts the right to control repeated sale of this copy;

the companion - the companion functioning in the ranges of frequencies which according to the legislation on telecommunications are reserved for the purpose of the public message (transfer to air) of signals for acceptance by the public or are reserved for the closed communication in the point-to-point mode. At the same time in the latter case circumstances in which representatives of the public perform acceptance of signals shall be comparable to the circumstances existing in the first case;

service of Internet access - service of electronic communication for the population which provides Internet access and, thus, theoretical possibility of communication between all final points connected to the Internet, irrespective of the used network technology and the terminal equipment;

service of information society - the service which is usually rendered for remuneration remotely through electronic means and on personal request of the receiver of service.

For the purposes of this concept:

a) remotely means that the service is rendered without simultaneous presence of the parties;

b) through electronic means means that the service originally is transferred and accepted in destination in case of means of the electronic equipment for processing (including for digital archiving) and data storage and is transferred in full, is sent and accepted on cable, radio, by means of optical means or other electromagnetic means;

c) on personal request of the receiver of service means that the service is provided by data transmission on personal request;

the owner of copyright - physical person or legal entity which acquired this quality according to the procedure of inheritance or concession according to the law, and also the publisher of pieces of music and written works concerning the property rights which passed to it according to individual agreements which has the right at least to part of the income from the rights;

Disclaimer! This text was translated by AI translator and is not a valid juridical document. No warranty. No claim. More info