Copyright Protection in Albania – A Brief Historical Overview

Abstract

Human creativity flourishes in a suitable environment, which is provided by the existence of an efficient legal system of copyright protection. In general, copyright is protected on national basis therefore the scope of protection and the requirements that must be met to ensure the protection of works and creations, differ from one country to another. Albania has its own legislation for copyright protection, as most of European countries. This paper is a historical overview of copyright legislation development in Albania. History has undeniable impact in a country's legislation. So, Albanian copyright legislation has been changed and improved from stages to stages. Copyright has found protection in Albania’s legislation, initially during the time of King Zog’s Ist (1925-1939) Reign. The Civil Code (1929) marks the first strands of copyright protection in Albania. This Code is referred to the best European legislations of the time. During the communist regime private intellectual creations and works could not be privately owned. The copyright belonged to the state. The government and the totalitarian Albanian state of that time decided to reproduce the work, or allow translation into foreign languages as well as the creation of derivative works. The Civil Code of the Republic of Albania (1981) came into force with new provisions that provided recognition and protection of copyright. After the collapse of the communism the recognition of private property was re-appeared. The authors and creators became owners of their works/performances. Firstly, Albanian Parliament adopted the law no. 7564, dated 19.05.1992 “On copyright”. Thirteen years later, the parliament enacted the Law no. 9380, dated 28.04.2005 “On copyright and other rights related to” that incorporated the provisions of the European Union Directives on Copyright Protection. Currently, the protection of copyright is provided even through some provisions of other legal acts, such as: Constitution of the Republic of Albania (1998), law no.7961/1995 “On the Labor Code of the Republic of Albania” (amended), Law no. 7895 /1995 “Criminal Code of the Republic of Albania” (amended), Law no. 7859 /1994 “On the Civil Code of the Republic of Albania” (amended) etc. In addition to the national legislation, Albania has ratified a number of international acts, which intend to protect copyright etc.