Furthering intellectual property creation and application
The main goal of the measure Furthering lntellectual Property Creation and Application in the Republic of Croatia is to provide optimal conditions for advanced use of intellectual property as a tool for economic growth and a driving force of scientific, cultural and overall social progress.
The aforementioned goal was formulated in the 2010-2012 National Strategy for the Development of the lntellectual Property System of the Republic of Croatia, a revised and amended document of the 2005-2010 National Strategy. The subject of the document is the national system of intellectual property including aspects of protection, implementation and enforcement of intellectual property rights and should ensure a supportive environment for creative and innovative development of all economic and social activities, thereby ensuring fair competition and balance between private interests of creators i.e. holders of intellectual property rights on the one hand and general social interests on the other hand.
Measures for achieving the targets are grouped into four clusters: a) economie, b) science and technology, c) culture and arts and d) other public policies.
Measures of the culture and arts cluster have been taken from the 2010-2012 Strategie Plan of the Ministry of Culture by being selected according to the criterion of connection thereof with intellectual property and by being incorporated in the National Strategy document in order to comprehensively and clearly define in one place the overall horizon of the national intellectual property system.
The measure Furthering lntellectual Property Creation and Application in the field of culture and arts cluster is implemented through two activities which the Ministry of Culture and the State lntellectual Property Office as weil as associations for collective realisation of copyright and related rights are responsible for:
1. Development of cultural and artistic creation - The activity of promoting intellectual creativity through adequate protection of the creator's interest is one of the main reasons for the establishment of the system of intellectual property and by appropriate development of the National lntellectual Property System, primarily in the field of copyright and related rights, it directly contributes to the development of cultural and artistic creativity. The activity includes the following programmes:
- Realisation of the programme of public needs in culture (to promote respect of legitimate moral and property rights of authors and related rights holders by appropriate public promotional activities of the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the State lntellectual Property Office);
- Implementation of the Entrepreneurship in Culture Promotion Programme (the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the State lntellectual Property Office of the Croatian Audio-visual Centre will examine, select, translate and adequately distribute and promote appropriate expert publications of the World lntellectual Property Organization on entrepreneurship in various artistic activities);
- lncreasing the contributions by the culture sector to other social sectors (the State lntellectual Property Office, in cooperation with the National lnstitute of Statistics and supported by relevant ministries, will in appropriate intervals continuously conduct studies on the economic contribution to the Croatian economy of activities based on copyright and related rights);
- Strengthening the role of artistic education (the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, the State lntellectual Property Office and the Ministry of Culture will support the strengthening of artistic education in the school system, lifelong education and in the media, as well as the increase in cultural management programmes. lt will also initiate systematic introduction of education on relevant aspects of intellectual property in ali forms of artistic education).
2. Achieving an optimal model of protection and preservation of cultural assets - Through activities, mechanisms are developed and measures are set up to protect cultural heritage in order to ensure sustainability thereof including the identification, documentation, research, sustaining, protection and promotion of its values. Associations for collective realisation of copyright and related rights will set aside part of the funds raised by collecting fees for the use of various copyright works and other objects subject to copyright and related rights protection in faveur of described incentives for protection of Croatian cultural heritage. The Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the National lnstitute for lntellectual Property and the professional public will address protection issues (protection exemptions) related to trademark and industrial design for registered cultural heritage works. ln addition, it will monitor the development of international legal instruments in the field of intellectual property with respect to protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions (folklore) and, if necessary, initiate appropriate national measures. Although folk art creations in their original form are not subject to copyright, a fee is paid to the state budget for their public use. This income is used to stimulate creativity and cultural diversity (in areas of non-commercial nature). By mutual agreements and specifically concluded lump-sum contracts, associations preserving traditional culture ensure favourable conditions for the implementation of measures to protect this part of intellectual property. An example is the Alliance of Associations - the Croatian Assembly of Culture the programme activity of which is also financially supported by the Ministry of Culture. The Croatian Assembly of Culture gathers 821 amateur associations and provides its members with deliberative and corresponding fees for longer periods. The Ministry of Culture supports such efforts, particularly in the segment where funds collected as fees for the performances of original folk art creations are paid into a special fund in order to stimulate musical events and musical creativity in the field of traditional music. Through a tender, the Croatian Composers' Society - ZAMP (Protection of Music Copyrights) has awarded funding for many Croatian associations and cultural-artistic associations for folk festivals, festivals, competitions and concerts as weil as for traditional heritage documented on CDs and DVDs.