Authors of creative works shall in respect of such works and by reason of their creation, enjoy a right of exclusive ownership vis-à-vis all other persons, referred to as “copyright”, the protection of which is organized by Law-No.-2000-011-of-December-19-2000-on-Copyright-and-Neighbouring-Rights.
The law as cited above comprise of moral and patrimonial implications.
MORAL IMPLICATIONS OF AUTHOR RIGHTS IN THE CAMEROON MUSIC INDUSTRY
Moral implications shall confer on the author, independently of his patrimonial rights and even after the transfer of such rights, the right to:
(a) Decide on disclosure and determine the procedures and conditions of such disclosures;
(b) Claim ownership of his work by requiring that his name or capacity be mentioned each time the work is made available to the public;
(c) Defend the integrity of his work by objecting especially to its deformation or mutilation; and
(d) Put an end to the dissemination of his work and make changes thereto.
The author may exercise the right of withdrawal and alteration referred to above only after compensating any beneficiary of an authorization in respect of such work.
The legal bankruptcy or liquidation of the property shall justify the automatic withdrawal of the work by the author.
Moral implications shall be linked to the person of the author. They shall be perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible.
PATRIMONIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE AUTHOR RIGHTS IN THE CAMEROON MUSIC INDUSTRY
The patrimonial implications of copyright shall comprise the exclusive right of the author to use or authorize the use of his work in any form whatsoever and to reap the financial benefit therefrom.
The exploitation right shall comprise representation right, reproduction right, transformation right, distribution right and indefeasible mortgagee right.
The debts attached to the patrimonial implications of copyright shall be subject to the same regulations as wage debts.
REPRESENTATION IN THE CAMEROON MUSIC INDUSTRY
Representation shall mean the communication of a literary or artistic work to the public, including its publication in such a way that everyone can have individual access to it where and when he so chooses. Representation shall comprise notably:
(a) Public recitation, drama performance and rendering of the work through any means or procedure;
(b) Public exhibition of the original or copies of a work of art; and
(c) Telecasting, that is to say, either wireless broadcast, such as radio or television broadcast, by wire or any other similar technical device, of sounds, images, texts or messages of the same nature.
The satellite broadcast of a work shall be considered as a representation, even if such broadcast takes place out of the national territory, where it is done at the request, on behalf or under the supervision of a communication firm having its main establishment in the national territory.
REPRODUCTION IN THE CAMEROON MUSIC INDUSTRY
Reproduction is the material fixation of all or part of a literary or artistic work through any means that will enable its indirect communication, including permanent or temporary electronic storage. It shall be done through photography, printing, drawing, engraving, casting, and audio-visual, tape or mechanical recording.
For works of architecture, the repeated execution of a plan or blueprint shall be considered as reproduction.
TRANSFORMATION IN THE CAMEROON MUSIC INDUSTRY
Transformation is the adaptation, translation, arrangement or any other alteration of a literary or artistic work.
DISTRIBUTION IN THE CAMEROON MUSIC INDUSTRY
Distribution is the offer to sell or lease, the sale, rental or any other act of marketing the original or copies of a literary or artistic work.
RIGHT OT PURSUIT UNDER COPYRIGHT LAW
The right of pursuit confers on the author of graphic or plastic works or of manuscripts, notwithstanding any transfer of the original of the work or manuscript, an inalienable right to share in the proceeds of any sale of such original work or manuscript in a public auction or through a merchant, irrespective of the terms and conditions under which the latter carried out the transaction.
The amount corresponding to this right and the payment conditions is determined by statutory instrument.
This right is transferable upon death.
INCORPOREAL OWNERSHIP OF A WORK
The incorporeal ownership of a work shall be independent of ownership of the material object. Unless otherwise stipulated, the acquisition of the object shall not confer on the buyer any of the rights provided for in the law. These rights shall subsist in the person of the original copyright owner or his rightful claimants who may not, however, require the buyer to place the said object at their disposal.
Unless otherwise stipulated in the contract and notwithstanding the provisions of the law, the rightful buyer of an original or a copy of a work shall enjoy the rights of the live presentation in public of this original or copy.
The right provided for in the law shall not extend to persons who obtain originals or copies of a work by rental or any other means of which they are not owners.
EXPLOITATION OF A WORK BY ANOTHER PERSON
Exploitation of a work by any person other than the author may not be allowed without the latter’s written authorization or that of his rightful claimant in writing including any electronic devices.
The authorization must be in writing, on pain of nullity.
The authorization to exploit may cover all or part of the rights, either free of charge or in return for payment.
Where authorization is total, its scope shall be limited to the forms of exploitation provided for in the authorization.
An authorization dealing with audio-visual adaptation rights must be written separately from that which deals with the actual publishing of the printed work.
The authorization shall be limited to the patrimonial rights expressly stated in the document. Each right shall be stated separately.
The authorization shall determine the mode, duration and place of exploitation.
The failure to specify the place of exploitation shall be considered as limiting the authorization to the country where it is granted.
The failure to specify the place of exploitation shall be considered as limiting the authorization to the mode of exploitation expressed at the granting of the authorization.
LICENSE CONTRACT
The licence contract may be exclusive or not.
A non-exclusive licence shall allow the holder, within the scope authorized him, to perform acts that concern the licence, the initial copyright holder and other likely holders of non-exclusive licences.
An exclusive licence shall allow the holder, within the scope authorized him, to the exclusion of any other party, including the initial copyright holder, to perform acts concerning the licence.
No licence shall be considered exclusive except as expressly stipulated in the contract between the author and the holder of the licence.
AUTHOR REMUNERATION
The author’s remuneration shall be proportional to the proceeds [from] exploitation.
It may be a fixed amount when:
(a) The basis for calculating the proportional share cannot be practically determined;
(b) The control charges are out of proportion with expected results;
(c) The utilization of the work is only of an incidental nature to the object exploited.
Where a fixed amount remuneration is determined in violation of the rule provided for in the law, such remuneration shall be 20% of the proceeds from exploitation.
The beneficiary of an authorization shall pursue effective exploitation that conforms to the practices of the profession and the nature of the work.
Except it is granted to a collective management body, an authorization to exploit all of an author’s future works shall be null and void.
The clause by which an author undertakes not to create any works shall be considered as null and void.
Copyright shall be transferable upon death.
PUBLISHED WORKS
Where the work was published with the authorization of the author, he may not forbid:
(a) Private performances strictly within family circles, provided they do not give rise to any proceeds;
(b) Performances given free of charge for educational and academic purposes, or during a religious service, and within premises reserved for such purposes;
(c) Reproductions and transformations in one copy for strictly personal and private use of the person who makes them, excluding any collective use or any exploitation for profit, except in the cases provided for in the law;
(d) Analysis, press reviews, short quotations justified by the critical, pedagogic, scientific or informative nature of the work on condition that they be accompanied by the indication of the “source” and the name of the author, if the name is contained in the source;
(e) The use of literary or artistic works as teaching illustration through publication, broadcast programmes or sound or visual recordings, provided such use is fair and non-profit making;
(f) Parody, pastiche and cartoon, taking into account the laws governing the genre;
(g) Braille reproductions for the blind;
(h) Reproductions and transformations intended to serve as evidence in administrative or legal proceedings.
TEMPORAL REPRODUCTION OF A WORK
The temporary reproduction of a work shall be allowed on condition that such reproduction:
(a) Takes place during a digital broadcast of the work or a performance to expose a work stored digitally;
(b) Is undertaken by an individual or corporate body authorized by the owner of the copyright or by law to carry out the transmission of the work or the act aimed at making it perceptible;
(c) Is accessory to the transmission, is done under the normal conditions of use of the equipment and is automatically cancelled without allowing for the electronic recuperation of the work for purposes other than those provided for in (a) and (b) above.
The restriction for private copies provided for above shall not apply to:
(a) The reproduction of architectural works in the form of similar buildings or constructions;
(b) The reprographic reproduction of an entire book or musical piece in graphic form;
(c) The reproduction of databases or banks and software, unless as provided for in Section 36 of the law;
(d) Any other reproduction of a work that violates the normal exploitation of the work or which will be unjustifiably detrimental to the legitimate interests of the author.
LITERARY OR ARTISTIC WORKS
Literary or artistic works viewed, heard or recorded during a topical event may, for information purposes, be reproduced in short extracts and made available to the public in a report on the said event by means of photography or through broadcast or any other public communication process.
Unless the exploitation right is expressly reserved, articles on topical political, social, economic or religious issues, political speeches, submissions during court hearings as well as sermons, conferences, addresses and other similar works may be reproduced by the press or broadcast in their original or translated version. However, the source, as well as the name of the author, must always be clearly stated.
WORKS OF ART
Works of art, including works of architecture, permanently kept in a public place, may be reproduced and made available to the public through photographic and Audio-visual means.
Any exploitation for profit of these reproductions without the prior authorization of the author of the works referred to above shall be unlawful.
Where the authorization to broadcast has been granted to an audio-visual communication corporation, the said authorization shall cover all free sound or visual communications made by the said corporation using its own technical and artistic means and under its responsibility.
The authorization referred to above shall not apply to performances given in public places such as cafés, restaurants, hotels, cabarets, various shops, cultural centres, public transport means, private clubs, for which prior authorization must be obtained.
AUTHORIZATION TO BROADCAST A WORK
Unless otherwise stipulated:
(a) The authorization to broadcast a work by radio shall not include the cable distribution of the broadcast, unless it is done simultaneously and solely by the beneficiary firm of this authorization and without the broadcast extending beyond the agreed geographical area;
(b) The authorization to broadcast a work shall not be considered as an authorization to broadcast it in a public place;
(c) The authorization to broadcast by radio shall not include satellite transmission that allows other radio corporations to receive the work, unless the author or his rightful claimants have authorized these corporations to broadcast the work to the public, in which case the broadcasting corporation shall be exempted from payment of any fee.
For broadcast programmes, audio-visual corporations shall be allowed to use their own means to make one or several ephemeral recordings of works which they shall be allowed to broadcast. Such recordings may not be sold, rented or lent.
Ephemeral recordings shall be destroyed within three months, unless the owner of the reproduction right has expressly consented to a longer preservation period.
Without prejudice to the author’s right to an equitable remuneration, reproductions may be preserved in official archives.
SOFTWARE AND DATABASE OR DATA BANK REPRODUCTION AND TRANSFORMATION RIGHTS
For software and database or data bank reproduction and transformation rights, in addition to the exceptions provided for in Section 29(2) of the law, only the exceptions under this law are allowed.
The owner of copyright may not prevent the legitimate owner of a database or bank from:
(a) Reproducing minor parts of this database or bank;
(b) Reproducing or transforming them in compliance with their purpose, including error correction;
(c) Reproducing them with a view to replacing them in case of loss, destruction or in case they become unusable;
(d) Making a recompilation, that is, reproducing and translating a software, where such acts enable the obtaining of information necessary for the development of another software that is compatible with the former, or with one or several other software.
PATRIMONIAL RIGHTS OF AN AUTHOR
The patrimonial rights of an author shall last for his lifetime. They shall subsist after his death throughout the current calendar year and for the next fifty years. They shall also subsist for all his successors or rightful claimants during the year of the death of the last surviving co-author plus fifty years for joint works.
The patrimonial rights of an author shall last for fifty years with effect from the calendar year during which the work was published with the consent of the author. If such publication did not take place within fifty years starting from the date of creation, the rights shall last for fifty years with effect from the end of the calendar year of creation. This shall apply to:
(a) Audio-visual works;
(b) Works of applied arts;
(c) Collective works.
For anonymous or pseudonymous works, the rights shall last for fifty years starting from the end of the calendar year during which publication was authorized. The term of copyright shall be that provided for above where the pseudonym does not leave room for any doubts as to the identity of the author, or where the latter reveals his identity before the deadline expires. If such publication does not take place within fifty years from the date of creation, the rights shall last for fifty years starting from the end of the calendar year of creation.
For posthumous works, the term of copyright protection shall be fifty years with effect from the end of the calendar year of authorized publication of the work. The patrimonial rights shall belong to the author’s successors in title or rightful claimants where the work is published during the period provided for above. Where publication took place after this period, the rights shall belong to the successor in title or rightful claimant who did the publication or caused it to be done.
Posthumous works shall be published separately, unless they are just a fragment of a previously published work. They may not be joined together with other previously published works of the same author unless the successors in title or rightful claimants still enjoy the exploitation right in these latter works.
Upon expiry of the protection time limits referred to above, the exclusive right shall become public property.
The exploitation of public works shall be subject to the respect of moral rights, to a prior declaration addressed to the Minister in charge of culture, and to the payment of royalty whose proceeds shall be kept in a cultural policy support account provided for in Section 5(4) of the law. The rate of the royalty shall be fixed by regulations.