Copyright and related rights
ENIntellectual property is one of the types of property within the scope of Article 23 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. The individual types of intellectual property, i. e. copyright, industrial property, etc., are regulated by special legal acts or international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania. Copyrights as one of the main types of intellectual property have been one of the most vulnerable areas of the human rights in Lithuania. Before the restoration of Lithuania’s independence the copyright protection was given little attention, there was no participation in the development and implementation of the international copyright system. Therefore, after the restoration of Lithuania’s independence the rebuilding of the system of copyright and related rights started from its very fundamentals. In 1992 the Republic of Lithuania joined the Convention for the World Intellectual Property Organization, in 1994 the ratification of the main international agreements and conventions in that field was launched, including the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, on 18 May 1999 the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Copyright and Related Rights was adopted, wherein the respective provisions of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania in compliance with the international obligations were reflected as well as the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Legal Protection of Computer Programs and Databases of 30 January 1996 was integrated. In 2003 a new version of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Copyright and Related Rights4 harmonized with the international obligations and the European Union directives was adopted. It is generally agreed that over the recent years the updated regulatory base for the protection of copyright and related rights has been set up in Lithuania, which is now compliant with the respective legal regulation of the European Union and international treaties.Apart from the new version of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights of 2003, with effect from 1 January 2003 the new version of Article 214-10 of the Code of Administrative Violations of the Republic of Lithuania regulating the infringements of copyright and related rights and the new Penal Code of the Republic of Lithuania came into force as well, wherein the grounds and provisions for the liability related with copyright and related rights are regulated in more detail and are expanded in compliance with the requirements of the European Union directives. Also, with implementation of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights the respective accompanying legislation was passed: the Procedure of Payment of Remuneration for the Lending of Books and Other Publications Through Libraries, the Procedure of Distribution and Payment of Remuneration for Reproduction of Audiovisual Works or Phonograms for Personal Purposes, the Procedure of Payment of Remuneration for Reprographic Reproduction (by photocopying or in any other manner reproducing on paper) approved by the Resolutions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania; in the responsible collective administration institutions (Agency of Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association LATGA-A, Lithuanian Neighboring Rights Association AGATA) the practice of collection and distribution of remuneration was launched; with the aim to ensure the protection of moral rights upon the author’s death the Procedure of the Protection of Moral Rights of Authors and Performers was established.In view of the copyright harmonization progress within the European Union, particularly in the field of the measures for the protection of copyright and related rights, and the problems that have come to light in relation to the copyright protection in the digital environment, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania has drafted a new version of the law amending and supplementing the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Copyright and Related Rights. In 1995 the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania was commissioned to coordinate the issues relating to the copyright implementation and protection, later on a special Copyright Division was established within the Ministry to deal with those issues. In 2002 the Department of Investigation of Objects of Intellectual Property was set up in the Forensic Science Center of Lithuania. In seeking to slow down the piracy of intellectual production in 2002 the Intellectual Property Protection Unit of the Criminal Investigation Supreme Board of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau was established, from 2004 it was reorganized into the respective Intellectual Property Protection Division (hereinafter – LCPB CIS Intellectual Property Protection Division). The anti-piracy activity indicators reported by the Division employees illustrate increasingly active work of the enforcement authorities: in 2003 the officials of the Division and local police officials detected in total 85 cases of criminal activity and 171 cases of administrative offences, seized more than 142 800 units of the material media with illegal recording of intellectual property objects; whereas in 2004 the number of the cases of criminal activity and administrative offences revealed by the officials was higher by 46 and 40 respectively and the number of seized media was higher by 158 000 units versus 2003 [p. 114-115].
