Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Burundi

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Burundi relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Burundi must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Burundi and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Burundi, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

Burundi was an independent kingdom until the beginning of the 20th century, when Germany colonised the region. After World War I Germany ceded the territory to Belgium, which administered it as part of the territory of Ruanda-Urundi. Burundi and Rwanda became independent countries in 1962.

Burundi has been a member of the World Trade Organization since 23 July 1995, the Berne Convention since 12 April 2016, and the WIPO treaty since 12 April 2016.[1]

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed "Law No. 1/021 of December 30, 2005, on the Protection of Copyright and Related Rights in Burundi" as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Burundi.[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.[2]

Applicability

Copyright is the exclusive right of the author of a literary or artistic work that is an original intellectual creation.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 2] Copyright protection is not subject to any formalities.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 3]

Literary and artistic works

These include: (a) books, pamphlets and other writings, including computer programs; (b) conferences, speeches, sermons and other similar works; (c) dramatic and dramatico-musical works; (d) musical works, with or without a written form and with or without accompanying words; (e) choreographic works and pantomimes; (f) audiovisual works; (g) works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography and tapestry; (h) photographic works, including works made by means similar to the photographic process; (i) works of applied art, whether handicraft works or works produced by industrial processes; (j) illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and three-dimensional works relating to geography, topography, architecture and science.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 4]

Derived works

Copyright also applies to (a) translations, adaptations, musical arrangements and other transformations of a literary or artistic work; (b) collections of works and data in machine-readable or other form which, by reason of the selection, organization or arrangement of their contents, are original; (c) original works derived from folklore.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 5]

Collective work

"Collective work" means a work created on the initiative of a natural person or legal entity who edits, publishes and discloses it under his own direction and in his own name and in which the personal contributions of various authors who take part in the writing of it merge into the whole for which they have been designed, so that it is impossible to attribute to each of them a distinct right over the whole that is created;[Act 1/021 2005 Article 1/k]

  • A collective work shall be the property of the natural person or legal entity on whose initiative it is designed and under whose name it is disclosed. Copyright shall vest in such person.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 15]
  • A press company shall acquire the right to publish, in the newspaper, magazine or periodical for which the author or authors work, the articles, drawings, photographs and other productions provided by the employees under a contract of employment, while the authors shall retain the other rights protected under this Act.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 11]

Not protected

Shortcut

See also: Commons:Unprotected works

Copyright protection shall not apply to: (a) acts, legal decisions and decisions of administrative bodies and the official translations of such texts, or daily news published, broadcast or communicated in public; (b) ideas, procedures, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, discoveries or mere data, even if expressed, described, explained, illustrated or embodied in a work.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 7]

Duration of copyright

All durations are from the end of the year of the relevant event.

  • Copyright shall subsist for the lifetime of the author and for the 50 calendar years from the year of his death.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 58]
  • A work of joint authorship ... shall be protected during the lifetime of the last surviving joint author and for 50 years after his death.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 59]
  • A work published anonymously or under a pseudonym shall be protected for a period of 50 years from the year in which the work was first published, or, failing such an event within 50 years from the making of the work, 50 years from the year in which the work was made accessible to the public, or, failing such events within 50 years from the making of the work, 50 years beginning from the year of such making.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 60]
  • A collective, audiovisual or posthumous work shall be protected for a period of 50 years from the year in which the work was lawfully published for the first time, or, failing such an event within 50 years from the making of the work, 50 years from the year in which the work was made accessible to the public, or, failing such events within 50 years from the making of the work, 50 years from the year of such making.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 61]
  • A work of applied art shall be protected for a period of 25 years beginning from the making of the work.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 62]
  • A work originally belonging to a legal entity ... shall be protected for a period of 50 years beginning from the date on which the work was lawfully made accessible to the public.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 63]

Right of privacy

Neither the author nor the owner of a portrait shall have the right to reproduce or exhibit it in public without the consent of the person portrayed or of his assignees, for a period of 20 years after his death.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 12]

Domaine Public Payant

See also: Commons:Paying public domain

Burundi Act 1/021 2005 Article 25 says:

  • Works in the public domain shall be placed under the protection of the State, represented by the Ministry in charge of culture.
  • The public representation or performance or the direct or indirect fixation of works in the public domain and of works exclusively composed of elements borrowed from works that have fallen into the public domain, with a view to exploitation for profit, are subject to regulations on royalties under conditions that shall be determined by an order of the Ministry in charge of culture.
  • The revenue from the collection of royalties for the use of works in the public domain shall be devoted to social and cultural purposes.

Freedom of panorama

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

  Not OK: the Burundian freedom of panorama is not free enough to allow publications of images of protected works of architecture and public art in commercial media like advertisements and websites, thus does not meet with Commons:Licensing. See also a related discussion here.

Under Burundi Act 1/021 2005 Article 26/4:

  • The reproduction of works of art or of architecture through cinematography or television and the communication of such works to the public if such works are permanently located in a place where they can be viewed by the public or are included in the film or program by way of background or as incidental to the essential matters represented.
  • Similarly, the reproduction of works of architecture through photography, cinematography, television or any other similar process, in addition to the publication of corresponding photographs in the press, periodicals and textbooks, shall be free and may not give rise to copyright payment.


Stamps

See also: Commons:Stamps

  Stamps are not included among the types of work for which copyright does not apply.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 7] If the author is known, a stamp would be protected for life + 50 years.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 58] Otherwise, as an anonymous or collective work it would be protected for publication + 50 years.[Act 1/021 2005 Article 60–61]

Citations

  1. a b Burundi Copyright and Related Rights (Neighboring Rights). WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization (2018). Retrieved on 2018-11-03.
  2. Law No. 1/021 of December 30, 2005, on the Protection of Copyright and Related Rights in Burundi. Burundi (2005). Retrieved on 2018-11-03.
Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer