Título VII. Del Registro de las obras

The Register of Intellectual Property has as its principal attribution, without prejudice to what other laws provide, to guarantee the legal security of authors, of holders of related rights and of holders of the respective economic rights and their successors in title, as well as to give adequate publicity to works, acts and documents through their registration, when so requested by the holders.

Likewise, the Register of Intellectual Property is the competent administrative authority for:

a)Receiving the deposit and making the corresponding registration of works for which their authors or holders of the right so request;

b)Receiving the deposit and making the corresponding registration of phonographic productions and artistic interpretations or performances and productions for radio and television that are fixed on a material medium, when so requested by their holders;

c)Registering agreements and contracts that in any manner confer, modify, transfer, restrict or dispose of economic copyright or related rights and those that authorize modifications or alterations to a work, when so requested by one or all of the parties or so provided by law. For purposes of this subparagraph, it shall be sufficient to accompany the respective application with a summary of the agreement or contract containing, at a minimum, the information established in the regulation of this law;

d)Hearing and deciding case files for applications for authorization to operate as collective management societies promoted by non-profit associations;

e)Exercising, on its own initiative, or at the request of a party, surveillance and inspection over the activities of collective management societies and over the activities of their officers, and/or legal representatives and imposing the sanctions contemplated in this law;

f)Exercising, on its own initiative or at the request of a party, surveillance and inspection over activities that may give rise to the exercise of the rights recognized by this law or the treaties on Copyright and Related Rights to which Guatemala is a party. Every person shall be obligated to provide the facilities and furnish all information and documentation that, for purposes of this power, is required of them by the Register of Intellectual Property;

g)Making the registration of the General Director, of the members of the Board of Directors and of the Oversight Committee of collective management societies, elected or appointed by the corresponding body;

h)Making the registration of the appointments of legal representatives and agents under a mandate of collective management societies. Such appointments and mandates shall have no legal effect until they have been registered in the Register of Intellectual Property;

i)Imposing the sanctions established in this law on collective management societies or on the members of the Board of Directors, of the Oversight Committee and on the General Director thereof when it is determined that they, by their actions, incurred violation or breach of their legal, statutory or regulatory obligations;

j)Intervening by way of conciliation in conflicts arising in connection with the enjoyment or exercise of the rights recognized in this law or in the treaties on the subject matter of Copyright or Related Rights to which Guatemala is a party, when so requested by the parties. Likewise, the Register of Intellectual Property may call the parties to conciliation when it deems it appropriate. The regulation shall elaborate on matters relating to the power referred to in this subparagraph;

k)Developing programs for dissemination, training and education in matters of Intellectual Property rights; and

l)Performing any other functions or attributions established by law or in the respective regulation.

The Register of Intellectual Property, through the Ministry of Economy, may enter into cooperation agreements with other national entities for purposes of transferring the copies or specimens of works submitted for deposit and registration.

The deposits and corresponding registrations referred to in this law shall be subject to payment of the fees determined by the tariff established by governmental agreement.

The registration of the works and productions protected by this law is declarative and not constitutive of rights; consequently, the lack or omission of registration does not prejudge the protection thereof nor the rights established by this law. Without prejudice thereto, registration in the register presumes the facts and acts stated therein to be true, save evidence to the contrary. Every registration leaves the rights of third parties unaffected.

To proceed to register a work, the author or their legal representative shall submit a sworn statement, in duplicate, in which they shall set forth:

a)The full first and last names of the holder or holders of the copyright and, where applicable, of the editor or producer; their age, marital status, occupation, nationality and domicile;

b)The title, description and detailed composition of the work, as well as its relevant bibliographic data; number of pages, format, composition, place and date of the edition, name of the editor, and place and date of the first publication or fixation, as applicable;

c)If the work is a compilation or a creation derived from another work, the identification of the original work; and

d)Any other relevant information that allows the work to be identified with greater precision, as well as the existence, ownership or duration of the copyright.

If the falsity of the sworn statement submitted is proven, the corresponding criminal and civil actions for violation of the rights established in this law shall be brought against the responsible person.

When it concerns a work made by several authors, any of them may request the register of the complete work and in the case that they act jointly, they shall appoint a common representative.

When two or more persons request the registration of the same work, it shall be registered in the terms of the first request, without prejudice to the right to challenge the register.

Together with the application, the interested party shall attach a copy of the work and the receipt evidencing that the payment referred to in Article 104 of this Law has been made. In the case of works already published, the copy attached shall be that of the latest edition.

In the case of plastic works such as sculptures, drawings, engravings, lithographs, plans or models, whether applied or not, color photographs of the work, taken from different angles, shall be attached in lieu thereof.

In the case of audiovisual works, interested parties may attach a copy of the work or photographs of the principal scenes, accompanied by an account of the plot and, as the case may be, a copy of the corresponding score.

To register a written work under a pseudonym, the author's identification data shall accompany the application in a sealed envelope. The person in charge of the Register shall open the envelope, with the assistance of witnesses, when requested by the applicant for registration, the publisher of the work or their successors in title, or by judicial decision. The opening of the envelope shall be for the purpose of verifying the identity of the author and their relationship to the work. The foregoing shall be documented in a record.

The Intellectual Property Registry may, by decision, allow the substitution of the deposit of the copy, in certain creative genres, by the accompaniment of documents that sufficiently identify the characteristics and content of the work or production subject to registration.

The registrations and documents on file in the Intellectual Property Register are public; however, in the case of computer programs, access to the documents shall only be permitted with authorization from the copyright holder, his successor in title or by judicial order.

Works submitted as unpublished for purposes of their registration in the Intellectual Property Register may only be consulted by the author or authors thereof.

In the event that any controversy arises in relation to the rights protected by this law, it shall be heard before the tribunals of justice. Insofar as applicable, the provisions relating to the register of works shall apply to the register of productions protected by related rights.