The Copyright in Albania and its Legal Protection under National Law

Abstract

It is a fact that the entire history of existence and development of human society has been founded on products of intellectual creativity of the human mind, which have been used to solve different problems of the time.We all have witnessed how the human imagination in the world has made possible the development in the field of science, technology and especially in Arts. Scientific innovations and the artistic activities, such as the music, painting or literature are created by individuals who have the ability to see and to express things in new and innovative ways.Intellectual property is a legal term that refers to the special protection, reserved by the law to the product shaped by human ideas, such as scientific and technological inventions or the artistic works. First of all, the intellectual property is considered a non-material asset that can be sold, bought, exchanged, licensed, etc., as well as any other property. On the other hand, it is considered as a personal exclusive right of the owner. Under intellectual property laws, the owner of intellectual property is granted the right to stop any infringement, unauthorized intervention or activities in relation to his property. One of the most important intellectual property rights is the copyright, which is the object of study of this article. The Copyright and the related intellectual rights, specially provided by the domestic normative framework, constitute relatively new legal institutes to Albanian reality. The Copyright in Albania presents special features because on the one hand it’s facing a normative regulation which aspires to get closer to international standards, but in practice it’s facing a insufficient and ineffective protection by the competent state authorities.