11. Important articles of the Ethiopian copyright neighboring rights declaration

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June 29, 2023

Requirements for Protection

To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be original. In copyright law, originality relates to expression of thought and not to the underlying idea or thought. Originality refers to the fact that the work was independently created and it was not copied from somewhere else.

According to Ethiopia copyright and neighboring rights protection proclamation article 6(1) and (2), there are two requirements for protection as a creative work can be protected if the work is original and fixed.
A job creator who meets these two criteria receives unconditional protection simply by virtue of producing his work. And also, photographic works receive protection in addition to the two criteria described in Article 6(1), when they are part of a collection or published in the form of a book; Or they may contain the name and address of the job creator or agent.
The quality of the work and the purpose for which the work may have been created are not considered as criteria for protection as stated in the proclamation on the above revealed article.

Creative works protected by the Ethiopian Copyright and Related Rights Act

The Copyright and Neighboring rights proclamation 410/2004 of Ethiopia article 2(30) and the amendment Proclamation 872/2014 article 2(1) provide protection for various creative works. The proclamations define the work as “ production in the literary, scientific and artistic fields. It includes in particular:

• Books, booklets, articles in reviews and newspaper, computer programs;
• Speeches, lectures, addresses, sermons and other oral works;
• Dramatic, dramatico-musical works, pantomimes, choreographic, and other works created for stage production;
• Musical compositions;
• Audiovisual;
• Works of architecture;
• Works of drawing, painting, sculpture, engraving, lithography, tapestry, and other works of fine arts;
• Photographic works;
• Illustrations, maps, plans, sketches, and three dimensional works related to geography, topography, architecture or science.

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