Copyright violations remain aserious problem in Vietnam despite a plethora of laws, especially withmovies being pirated through the internet, causing losses of hundreds ofmillions of dollars.
Speaking at a workshop titled "Copyrightprotection for movie and TV programmes in digital era” in Ho Chi MinhCity on April 23, Phan Vu Tuan, a lawyer and office manager of theIntellectual Property Association (IPA), said that not everybody wantsto pay for movies/TV programmes they can watch for free.
"Besides,many websites can make huge profits due to the feeble copyrightprotection,” he said, "and the most important thing is producers do notknow how to protect their products."
There are many websitesallowing viewers to watch or download movies and TV programmes onlinefor free and making money from advertisements. None of them indicatethat they possess copyrights for any of them.
Vietnam has enactedmany laws to protect intellectual property, which make internet serviceproviders responsible for online content.
Pham Thi Kim Oanh,deputy head of the Vietnam Copyright Office, said that the country hasmany multilateral and bilateral agreements and treaties related tocopyright protection, such as Berne for literature, arts and science;Rome for video and sound recording; Geneva for music producers; Brusselsfor programme transfer through satellite; and TRIPS for intellectualproperty related to trade.
She said copyright owners should applymodern technology to protect themselves, complain to relevantauthorities in case of violations, and be ready to go to the court.
"Lawsalso stipulate fines of 250 million VND (12,000 USD) for copyrightviolations by individuals and 500 million VND (24,0000 USD) byorganisations," she added.
But she warned that laws cannot coverall the violations since in the digital era, they are becoming more andmore complicated and users do not want to pay.
Nguyen Van Vien,IPA Chairman, said widespread copyright violations will hurt thedevelopment of the country in the context of global integration and theknowledge-based economy.
"Copyrights have become more and moreimportant in the digital and integration era. We have to learn fromother nations to improve the situation," Vien said.
Jung Tae-sun,Director General of the Republic of Korea-owned CJ E&M Vietnam,spoke about how his country dealt with copyright violations.
Accordingto Jung, in 2011, the Republic of Korea (RoK) watched around 2.7billion copyright violations. Pirated products were worth around 4billion USD. Authorities increased the penalties for copyrightviolations by comprehensively changing the law. The country alsolaunched the Illegal Content Obstruction Programme which automaticallytracks contents downloaded from the internet and stops the process.
"Many kinds of copyright violations have been eradicated by the programme," Jung affirmed.
Thetwo countries have stepped up co-operation for copyright protectionsince January this year, with the RoK Copyright Centre opening arepresentative office in Vietnam.-VNA
Speaking at a workshop titled "Copyrightprotection for movie and TV programmes in digital era” in Ho Chi MinhCity on April 23, Phan Vu Tuan, a lawyer and office manager of theIntellectual Property Association (IPA), said that not everybody wantsto pay for movies/TV programmes they can watch for free.
"Besides,many websites can make huge profits due to the feeble copyrightprotection,” he said, "and the most important thing is producers do notknow how to protect their products."
There are many websitesallowing viewers to watch or download movies and TV programmes onlinefor free and making money from advertisements. None of them indicatethat they possess copyrights for any of them.
Vietnam has enactedmany laws to protect intellectual property, which make internet serviceproviders responsible for online content.
Pham Thi Kim Oanh,deputy head of the Vietnam Copyright Office, said that the country hasmany multilateral and bilateral agreements and treaties related tocopyright protection, such as Berne for literature, arts and science;Rome for video and sound recording; Geneva for music producers; Brusselsfor programme transfer through satellite; and TRIPS for intellectualproperty related to trade.
She said copyright owners should applymodern technology to protect themselves, complain to relevantauthorities in case of violations, and be ready to go to the court.
"Lawsalso stipulate fines of 250 million VND (12,000 USD) for copyrightviolations by individuals and 500 million VND (24,0000 USD) byorganisations," she added.
But she warned that laws cannot coverall the violations since in the digital era, they are becoming more andmore complicated and users do not want to pay.
Nguyen Van Vien,IPA Chairman, said widespread copyright violations will hurt thedevelopment of the country in the context of global integration and theknowledge-based economy.
"Copyrights have become more and moreimportant in the digital and integration era. We have to learn fromother nations to improve the situation," Vien said.
Jung Tae-sun,Director General of the Republic of Korea-owned CJ E&M Vietnam,spoke about how his country dealt with copyright violations.
Accordingto Jung, in 2011, the Republic of Korea (RoK) watched around 2.7billion copyright violations. Pirated products were worth around 4billion USD. Authorities increased the penalties for copyrightviolations by comprehensively changing the law. The country alsolaunched the Illegal Content Obstruction Programme which automaticallytracks contents downloaded from the internet and stops the process.
"Many kinds of copyright violations have been eradicated by the programme," Jung affirmed.
Thetwo countries have stepped up co-operation for copyright protectionsince January this year, with the RoK Copyright Centre opening arepresentative office in Vietnam.-VNA
