Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Benin

Copyright rules: Benin Shortcut: COM:BENIN
Durations
Standard	Life + 70 years
Anonymous	Publish + 70 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 70 years
Collective	Publish + 70 years
Applied art	Create + 25 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	No
Terms run to year end	Yes
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	BEN
Treaties
Berne convention	31 July 1960
Bangui Agreement	19 March 1983
WTO member	22 February 1996
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	16 April 2006
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.
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This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Benin relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Benin must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Benin and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Benin, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Benin, formerly known as Dahomey, was a French colony from 1892 until obtaining full independence on 1 August 1960.

Benin has been a member of the Berne Convention since 31 July 1960, the WIPO treaty since 16 April 2006 and the World Trade Organization since 22 February 1996, as well as a signatory to various other international treaties.^[1]

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 2005-30 of April 5, 2006, relating to Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Benin as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Benin.^[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.^[2]

The 2006 law repealed the Law No. 84-008 of March 15, 1984, on Copyright Protection in the Republic of Benin, non-retroactively.^{[2006 Art.132]} The French text of the repealed 1984 law is available on LEGIS.BJ.^[3]

• Copyright in an individual work lasts for 70 years from the end of the author's year of death.^{[2006 Art.52]}
• Anonymous or pseudonymous works are protected for 70 years from the end of the year of publication unless the author's identity is disclosed, in which case they are protected for 70 years from the end of their year of death .^{[2006 Art.54]}
• Co-authors of a joint work are joint holders of moral and economic rights in the work as a whole, but may enjoy independent rights in their contributions if these can be separated from the work as a whole. Economic rights in a joint work are protected for 70 years from the end of the last surviving author's death.^{[2006 Art.53]}
• A collective work is a work created by a number of authors at the initiative and under the authority of a natural or legal person who or which publishes the work in his name and in which the contributions of the authors who participated in its creation merge in the whole work so that it is impossible to identify the various contributions and their authors.^{[2006 Art.1]} The publisher holds the moral and economic rights in a collective work. The economic rights in a collective work are protected for 70 years from the end of the year in which it was published.^{[2006 Art.55]}
• With audiovisual works the director, scriptwriter, author of the adaptation and composer of the music are considered joint authors. By default the producer owns the economic rights of the work as a whole, but the other authors maintain economic rights to their contributions where these can be separated from the work as a whole.^{[2006 Art.30-32]} The economic rights in an audiovisual work are protected for 70 years from the end of the year in which it was published.^{[2006 Art.55]}
• The economic rights in a work of applied art are protected for 25 years after it was made.^{[2006 Art.56]}

Previous durations

The repealed 1984 law provided a copyright duration of 50 years (after author's death or publication, depending on the situation of the work).^{[1984 Art.43]} As the 2006 law is non-retroactive, works that fell into public domain courtesy of the durations prescribed in the 1984 law remained in public domain (not extended by the current, longer term).

"Expressions of folklore" are the characteristic elements of the traditional artistic heritage developed and perpetuated on the territory of the Republic of Benin by a community or by individuals recognized as meeting the traditional artistic expectations of such community, and includes: folk tales, folk poetry and mysteries; folk songs and instrumental music; folk dancing and entertainments; products of folk art, such as drawings, paintings, sculptures, pottery, terracotta, carvings, mosaics, woodwork, metal objects, jewelry, textiles and costumes.^{[2006 Art.1]}

Folklore belongs by its origin to the national heritage.^{[2006 Art.11]} Expressions of folklore are protected against reproduction, communication to the public by means of performance, broadcast, distribution by cable or other means, adaptation, translation or any other transformation, where such uses are carried out for commercial purposes or outside their traditional or customary context.^{[2006 Art.80]} These acts are subject to the prior authorization of the collective management organization, against payment of a royalty, the amount of which shall be determined in accordance with the customary terms in each of the categories of creation considered.^{[2006 Art.81]}

See also: Commons:Currency

 Unsure West African CFA franc used in Benin has close ties to France. French Cour de Cassation ruled in 2002 that franc is not covered by Copyright Law^[4], but it is not known if it also applies to West African CFA franc.

See also: COM:CUR France

See also: Commons:Unprotected works

Works that are not protected are.^{[2006 Art.9]}:

• Official texts of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature or to the official translations thereof;
• The news of the day;
• Ideas, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, discoveries or simple data, even if they are set out, described, explained, illustrated or incorporated in a work

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

 Not OK: Based on the 2006 law, reporting or current events purposes only for photography, and full freedom of panorama for film and television broadcasts only.

For the purpose of reporting of a current event by means of photography or cinematography or through aural or visual broadcasting, the recording, reproduction and public communication of literary or artistic works that may be seen or heard during such event shall be lawful, to the extent justified by the intended informatory purpose.^{[2006 Art.17]}

Reproduction for the purposes of cinematography, broadcast and public communication of works of art and architecture that are permanently located in a public place or whose inclusion in a film or broadcast is merely secondary or incidental to the main subject matter shall be lawful.^{[2006 Art.18]}

The restricted Beninese freedom of panorama in the 1984 law – for both audio-visual media and current events reporting only – was identical to the freedom of panorama of the current, 2006 law.^{[1984 Art.15 and 16]}

• Category:Beninese FOP cases