What is a copyright?
A copyright is the legal protection given in the Philippines to original works of authorship. Copyrights protect books, scripts, paintings, photos, music, video and cinematographic works, software etc by preventing others from using the work without permission. To be protected, such works must be represented in a permanent form, such as a written document or a drawing.

Copyright is a bundle of rights
A copyright is a bundle of rights, including the exclusive right to distribute, sell, duplicate, publicly perform, and create derivative works from the work. The length of copyright protection for published literary or artistic works is the author’s lifetime plus 50 years after death. In the case of unpublished and anonymous works, copyright subsists in the work until the expiration of 50 years from the year of first creation. Similarly, in the case of sound recordings and audio-visual works, it is 50 years. However, the copyright in cable programmes and television and sound broadcasts continues to subsist for only 20 years from date of broadcast. The fact that a work is old doesn't necessarily mean that the copyright on it has expired. Until the end of the term of protection, a copyright owner has the right to sell, transfer, assign, or license one or all of these exclusive rights to someone else.

Copyright registrations and markings
In the Philippines, you do not need to register a copyright in order to benefit from copyright protections. No particular formalities are required to be complied with in order to obtain protection under the Intellectual Property Code. It is also not necessary to place a © on the copyrighted work, but it is a good idea to do so. The absence of a © does not however mean that it is legal to copy a work without permission.

Resale of copyrighted works
Under the copyright laws, the owner of a particular copy of a copyrighted work is generally entitled to resell the particular copy owned. For example, if you purchase a copy of a DVD movie, you are allowed to resell that particular DVD. Copyright protection prevents you from copying the DVD movie and reselling the copies. If you have licensed the right to use a particular copyrighted item, you should review the licence and consult with your lawyers to determine whether you can resell the item.

Selling versus giving away an item
Copyright protection includes the exclusive right to distribute the copyrighted work. This usually means that giving away an unauthorised copy of a copyrighted work (for example a duplicated copy of a videocassette) is not permitted. Thus, selling a pencil for $5.00, and including for "free" an unauthorised DVD copy would probably be against the law.

The Berne Convention

The Berne Convention has the status of law in the Philippines. The Berne Convention is an international treaty to which the Philippines is a party.

*This information is not intended to be legal advice. If you have any doubts about whether you can sell an item on eBay, we encourage you to contact the copyright owner or consult your own lawyers.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

• Listing cancellation

• Loss of eBay fees

• Limits placed on account privileges

• Loss of PowerSeller status

• Account suspension