Título VI. Contratos sobre el derecho de autor y derechos conexos

By the publishing contract, the holder of the copyright in a literary, scientific or artistic work, or their successors in title, grants, under specified conditions, to a person called the publisher, the right to reproduce their work and sell the copies thereof, in exchange for remuneration.

The publisher shall publish the work at their own account and risk and shall deliver to the author the agreed remuneration.

TITLE VI of this law is applicable solely to contracts signed in Guatemala.

The publishing contract for a work does not imply the alienation of the author's economic rights in such work. The publisher shall have no more rights than those of reproducing and selling copies of the work under the conditions agreed in the contract. The contract shall be formalized in writing.

The right granted to a publisher to publish several separate works does not include the power to publish them collected in a single volume and vice versa.

The publishing contract may be agreed for a fixed time limit or for an established number of editions, specifying the number of copies each edition shall contain. If the contract establishes neither the time limit nor the number of editions, it shall be understood to cover a single edition.

Unless otherwise agreed, if upon exhaustion of an edition the publisher does not reissue the work within the time limit of eighteen months, the author may request rescission of the contract. In the case of a contract for a fixed time, the publisher's rights expire upon exhaustion of the last edition made within the time limit, and if for a fixed number of editions, upon exhaustion of the last one. For such purpose, an edition shall be considered exhausted when the publisher cannot satisfy public demand, or when the number of copies in its possession does not exceed one hundred.

If it were an anonymous work and the author thereof were subsequently to appear, the publisher shall be obligated to pay the author the royalties corresponding to the exploitation of their work. In the event that no agreement is reached on the amount of payment, the provisions of Article 83 of this Law shall apply.

If the publisher acted in bad faith, the author shall also be entitled to the corresponding compensation.

The author must deliver to the publisher, within the time limit established in the contract, the work to be published, in such form as to allow its normal reproduction. The publisher may not, without the written authorization of the author, make modifications, abridgements or additions to the work.

The author shall have the right to make such corrections, amendments or improvements to his work as he deems appropriate, before the work goes to press; however, where the corrections or improvements render the printing more costly, he is obligated to reimburse the publisher for the corresponding expenses.

The author shall retain this right in successive editions of his work, provided that he reimburses the publisher for the expenses incurred thereby.

In case of loss or destruction of an unpublished work, the liable party must cover the following indemnities:

a)If this occurs when the work is in the possession of the author, the author shall pay the publisher the sum received as an advance, plus the necessary expenses incurred by the publisher.

b)If this occurs when the work is in the possession of the publisher, the publisher shall pay the author their fees and the moral and patrimonial losses caused.

The publisher shall include the name or pseudonym of the author in each of the copies and shall publish the work within the time limit established in the contract. In the event that such time limit is not established, it shall be understood to be one year.

If the work is anonymous, such circumstance shall be stated. In the case of translations, compilations, adaptations and other versions, in addition to the name of the author of the original work or their pseudonym, the name of the translator, compiler, adapter or author of the version shall be stated.

If it is a translation, the title of the work in the original language must also appear.

If the publishing contract were to have a fixed time limit for its termination, and upon expiration thereof the publisher were to retain unsold copies of the work, the holder of the copyright may purchase them at cost price, plus ten percent. The time limit for exercising this right shall be one month, counted from the expiration of the time limit, upon the lapse of which the publisher may continue selling them under the same conditions.

Under the contract for representation or public performance, the author of a literary, dramatic, musical, dramatic-musical, pantomimic or choreographic work, or their successor in title, assigns or authorizes to a natural or juridical person the right to represent or publicly perform their work in exchange for remuneration.

The contract may contain stipulations with respect to the actors who will perform the principal roles, details of the wardrobe and description of the scenery.

The parties may contract the assignment for a fixed time limit or for a determined number of public performances. In both cases, the first performance shall be carried out within the established time limit, or failing that, within the six months following the date of signing of the contract. Otherwise, the contract shall be deemed terminated and the author shall not be obligated to return the remuneration he may have received.

In the absence of contractual stipulations, the entrepreneur acquires the exclusive concession for the performance of the work for six months counted from its premiere. The author of the work may not have it performed by a third party while the entrepreneur who first accepted it has not completed the agreed number of performances, unless his contract was without exclusivity.

The entrepreneur is obligated to:

a)Perform the work under the conditions stated in the contract, without introducing modifications not consented to by the author and announce it to the public with its title, the name of the author and, where applicable, the name of the translator or adaptor;

b)Allow the author to supervise the performance of the work; and

c)Retain the principal performers or the directors of the orchestra and choir, if they were chosen in agreement with the author.

The author's participation in the box-office revenues has the nature of a deposit in the possession of the entrepreneur, at the disposal of the author, and shall not be affected by any attachment ordered against the property of the entrepreneur.

If the entrepreneur, upon being required by the author, fails to deliver to him the participation held on deposit, the competent judicial authority, at the request of the interested party, shall order the suspension of the performances of the work or the withholding of the proceeds of the tickets, without prejudice to the author's right to terminate the contract and to initiate such actions as may be appropriate.

Without the authorization of the holder of the copyright or related right, no musical compositions, with or without lyrics, may be transmitted by radio, television, loudspeaker services or other similar electronic means, or performed in auditions or public spectacles, the user being required to pay the corresponding economic remuneration.

The owner, partner, manager, director or person responsible for the activities of the establishments shall be jointly and severally liable with the organizer of the spectacle for the violations of the respective rights committed in said premises.

In public spectacles with the live participation of the performer, the companies and persons responsible for their organization and the competent public authorities are obligated to prohibit the attending public from recording the spectacle, by any means, without the written authorization of the corresponding author, performing artist and phonographic or videographic producer.

The person who is in charge of the direction of the entities or establishments where acts of public performance of musical works are carried out is obligated to:

a)Record daily the title of each musical work performed, the name of the author and composer thereof, of the artists or performers who participate, the director of the group or orchestra, as applicable, and the name of the phonographic or videographic producer, when the public performance is made from a phonogram or videogram.

b)Forward such information to each of the associations or management societies representing the rights of authors, performing or executing artists and producers of phonograms and videograms.

The administrative authorities in charge of authorizing public performances shall not issue the corresponding permits if the person responsible for the representation or performance does not prove the authorization of the holders of the respective rights.

Under the contract for fixation of a work, the author authorizes a natural or legal person to include it in an audiovisual work or phonogram for its reproduction and distribution, in exchange for previously agreed remuneration.

Unless otherwise agreed, the author's remuneration shall be in proportion to the value of the copies sold and shall be paid to the author in semi-annual settlements, from the initial date of circulation. For such purpose, the producer shall maintain an accounting system that allows verification of the number of copies produced and sold.

The author or their representatives, as well as the producer, may, jointly or separately, initiate the corresponding legal actions for the unlawful use of audiovisual works and phonograms.