The Copyright Agency of Azerbaijan Republic ( az, Azərbaycan Respublikası Müəllif Hüquqları Agentliyi) is a

governmental agency A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...

within the Cabinet of Azerbaijan in charge of regulation of activities related to protection of copyrights and intellectual property in

Azerbaijan Republic Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. The committee is headed by Kamran Imanov.

History and structure

The Copyright Agency was established by the

Presidential President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

Decree on September 10, 1993. The main functions of the agency are creation of favorable legal conditions for potential people seeking to make contributions to scientific research in the country, literature and art; protection of copyright, related to the intellectual property and conducting state policy in field of the international cultural exchange; representation of Azerbaijan in international events, encouraging cooperation with similar agencies abroad; state registration of scientific, cultural and art works, etc. Azerbaijan enacted Law on Copyright and Related Rights in 1996. Azerbaijan is a member of

World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, 15 specialized agencies of the United Nation ...

(WIPO), a party to the

Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization The WIPO Convention (formally, the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization) is the multilateral treaty that established the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The convention was signed at Stockholm, S ...

, the Paris Convention for Protection of Industrial Property, the

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal to agree on a set of l ...

, and the

Geneva Phonograms Convention The Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms, also known as the Geneva Phonograms Convention, is a 1971 international agreement relating to copyright protection for sound record ...

. The agency was given the duty of protecting the folklore of Azerbaijan by President

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...

. In 2017 the head of agency stated that compared to 2005 figures, internet piracy level reduced from 61% to 29%. All registered intellectual property can be found in the registry of the company. Nowadays 11.500 items were registered as intellectual property.

Activity of Agency

Core article: Intellectual Property Law in Azerbaijan The activity of agency is strictly consistent with the Constitution of Azerbaijan, orders of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan Republic, duties derived from international agreement in terms of copyright security and intellectual property. Aims of agency: * Make a foundation to motivate creations in art, science, literature spheres * Secure of copyright, intellectual property laws * Ensure the state policy in terms of cultural exchange at the international level

Duties of Agency

* Ensure that government's policy for copyright laws are conducted * Making the proposals for copyright laws’ improvements and presentation of proposals for consideration in appropriate government entities * Controlling the obedience of existing copyright laws * Representing Azerbaijan in international organizations in the copyright security sphere * Ensuring the state registration of scientific, art, cultural works * Implementation of state policy and guidance in the field of protection of topology's internal circuits * Making the proposals for topology's internal circuit's improvements and presentation of proposals for consideration in appropriate government entities * Representing Azerbaijan in international organizations in topology circuit's security sphere * Governmental registration of all topology circuits * Governmental copyright protection of cultural, folklore citations and aphorisms * Making the proposals for folklore/cultural copyright laws’ improvements and presentation of proposals for consideration in appropriate government entities * Representing the Azerbaijan Republic on the international level in folklore copyright security organizations * Protection and representation of national interests in case of violation of folklore copyright laws * Governmental registration of copyright law's transfer agreement * Registration of databases which are protected by copyright laws and other types of securities * Representing Azerbaijan in international organizations in the database security sphere * Implementation of state policy and guidance in the field of protection of databases

Authority of agency

* Making the proposals for copyright laws’ improvements and presentation of proposals for consideration in appropriate government entities * Represent the Minister's Cabinet in official statements linked to copyright security * Giving the binding orders, explanations to relevant entities linked to copyright security * Monitor governmental statements in the copyright security sphere * Demand the suspension of illegal activity endangering the intellectual/copyright property * Demand the inspection of required documents which indicates possession of the intellectual property * Take a specimen of material carriers for the purpose of Its legal release for the final consumers * In the case of copyright law's violation demand the elimination of distribution of illegal instances (copies) of the product * Demand the list of actions that are intended to secure the illegal distribution from the intellectual property owner * According to regulatory documents to raise claims in courts in order to apply economic sanctions * Resolve the disagreements and manage the ownership rights between the authors and holders of related rights * Give licenses to organizations and physical entities for relevant purposes, determine the size of the fee, rules of issuing the fee, revoke the license if the current agreement is violated * Engage in informational, advertising and print activities in Azerbaijan and foreign countries, establish the mass media.

Organizational structure

Structure of the agency consists of 4 departments. The head of the Agency is a chairman who is personally carrying the responsibility for duties which are linked to his span of duties. Agency is financed by the government.

References