New Croatian Law on Copyright and Related Rights (hereinafter: ZAPSP) was published in the Official Gazette No. 111/2021 and came into force on October 23, 2021. ZAPSP has been harmonised with 15 Directives of the European Union and 9 International Treaties in the copyright and related rights field. ZAPSP also ensures the prerequisites for implementation of the two EU Regulations in the same legal field. Other novelties are the result of the Croatian circumstances. ZAPSP in many ways relies on its predecessor – but it unifies the expression and tries to achieve a greater degree of systematicity.
The section on collective exercise of rights has been systematized – in terms of databases, a new arrangement has been made and databases are now systematized as original and non-original – while the related right of publishers of informative publications has been regulated based on the Directive on Copyright in the Single Digital Market.
The creation of an author’s work, which has been ordered in the course of employment in the state and public service, and at the university, including the works of students – has been regulated in a new way i.e. a rebuttable presumption has been prescribed, according to which the employer has exclusive rights of exploitation in relation to the content and scope required for the realization of the employer’s activities, without space and time limitations. However, it is always possible to arrange mutual relations with the authors differently by a contract. The big news related to the media industry is regulation of unprotected creations, whereby the obligation of attribution of news is introduced. Video games and other multimedia works are now included in the catalogue of the author’s works.
Both architectural works and spatial plans have been clearly defined i.e. spatial development plans, urban plans and the like, conservation grounds and their collections at the time of creation, are all works of authorship if they are original intellectual creations, with an individual character. However, from the moment they are submitted to the official procedures or are officially published, they cease to be protected by copyright and become unprotected creations.
The content of copyright adapted to the digital market has been systematized in the new ZAPSP in one place – while the right to communicate the author’s work to the public has undergone the most important changes in the ZAPSP, because it now prescribes that the work be communicated to the public by any means, by wire or wireless, and that for each communication, the public must obtain approval by contract or in another way, unless ZAPSP itself says otherwise.
Broadcasting and broadcasting via satellite have been defined in the new ZAPSP more precisely. Namely, the principle of the country of origin in broadcasting via satellite has been explicitly regulated, and now – rebroadcasting is defined in such a way as to include any technology that enables the first broadcast to be communicated to the public simultaneously and in an unaltered form, by a person other than the first broadcasting organization.
The responsibility of platforms for sharing content via the Internet has been regulated in a new way. Namely, the responsibility has completely been transferred to platforms that are now obliged to regulate the following with the holders i.e. reproduction permission, communication to the public and making it available to the public. All acts of reproduction, communication to the public and making it available to the public, by non-commercial users, including those who do not generate significant income from such actions – are covered by the license obtained by the platform from the rights holder.
In accordance with the new ZAPSP, the moral right to respect the author’s work implies the possibility for the author to object to deformation, mutilation and similar defacement of the work – but minor changes and modifications are not considered a violation of the moral right. Also, an explicit provision has been introduced, according to which, the author cannot invoke the moral right to respect the author’s work if the remake/adaptation was done in accordance with the purpose for which the author approved it, by disposing of its property right to remake/adaptation.
Romana Matanovac Vučković
This is a summary of the article written by Romana Matanovac Vučković, published in Informator No. 6703 on October 29, 2021.