UNB, Dhaka :
Experts have emphasised that copyright protection for creative works should be made mandatory immediately to protect the authenticity of intellectual property in the country.
They expressed their emphasis on Sunday in a seminar room of the Jatiyo Nattyashala of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy organised by the Copyright Office, an affiliate of Ministry of Cultural Affairs marking the World Copyright Day. “Registration of intellectual property is mandatory throughout the world, but copyright registration is not mandatory. Bangladesh is no exception. Since copyright registration is optional, creative people in Bangladesh are not interested in registering their creative works.
“For example, only 72 movies have been registered in Bangladesh since 1971. Only 15,081 registrations have been registered in the Copyright Office since 1962. Due to this unwillingness, it is not possible to make proper use of the copyright law in Bangladesh,” said Additional Secretary of the Cultural Affairs Ministry and chairman of Copyright Board Mashiur Rahman in his keynote, titled “Role of the law to protect the intellectual Property: Bangladesh perspective.”
He said that copyright law had been enacted in Bangladesh in 2000. Despite there being enough scope fore implementation of the law but it is not being implemented due to the lack of awareness and negligence towards the law. “Although there is a copyright taskforce, there are enough questions
about its functionality and capabilities. The rate of the cases on copyright in the court is very small. There is a lack of required lawyers to handle the cases too. Moreover, creative people are afraid to sue for fear of harassment.
In regarding that the copyright has been important to have a separate tribunal,” the article said.
In the absence of clear provisions in the existing copyright law in certain important matters, and the implementation of the Act has made it difficult ,he submitted some suggestions for amending the law, that is to include the Copyright Task Force in copyright law and to increase the amount of copyright infringement and piracy punishment, to make arrangements for conducting mediation activities to resolve disputes related to copyright, to authorize the review of the Registrar of Copyright, to determine the authenticity of the action on the basis of copyright registration of each creative work, to include a clear and detailed provisions concerning the digital works in the law and the provisions of the Copyright Act to include mobile court.
Chief executive of Music director and Bangladesh Lyricist Composer Performer Association (BLCPS) Sujit Mostafa, Dhaka University Assistant Professor M Atiq Rahman and Director of Bangladesh Publisher and Seller Association Khan Mahbub discussed in the article. Sujit Mostafa said that royalties are given to singers only in different radio, televisions or even BTV or Bangladesh radio, musicians and artists are not given.
Experts have emphasised that copyright protection for creative works should be made mandatory immediately to protect the authenticity of intellectual property in the country.
They expressed their emphasis on Sunday in a seminar room of the Jatiyo Nattyashala of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy organised by the Copyright Office, an affiliate of Ministry of Cultural Affairs marking the World Copyright Day. “Registration of intellectual property is mandatory throughout the world, but copyright registration is not mandatory. Bangladesh is no exception. Since copyright registration is optional, creative people in Bangladesh are not interested in registering their creative works.
“For example, only 72 movies have been registered in Bangladesh since 1971. Only 15,081 registrations have been registered in the Copyright Office since 1962. Due to this unwillingness, it is not possible to make proper use of the copyright law in Bangladesh,” said Additional Secretary of the Cultural Affairs Ministry and chairman of Copyright Board Mashiur Rahman in his keynote, titled “Role of the law to protect the intellectual Property: Bangladesh perspective.”
He said that copyright law had been enacted in Bangladesh in 2000. Despite there being enough scope fore implementation of the law but it is not being implemented due to the lack of awareness and negligence towards the law. “Although there is a copyright taskforce, there are enough questions
about its functionality and capabilities. The rate of the cases on copyright in the court is very small. There is a lack of required lawyers to handle the cases too. Moreover, creative people are afraid to sue for fear of harassment.
In regarding that the copyright has been important to have a separate tribunal,” the article said.
In the absence of clear provisions in the existing copyright law in certain important matters, and the implementation of the Act has made it difficult ,he submitted some suggestions for amending the law, that is to include the Copyright Task Force in copyright law and to increase the amount of copyright infringement and piracy punishment, to make arrangements for conducting mediation activities to resolve disputes related to copyright, to authorize the review of the Registrar of Copyright, to determine the authenticity of the action on the basis of copyright registration of each creative work, to include a clear and detailed provisions concerning the digital works in the law and the provisions of the Copyright Act to include mobile court.
Chief executive of Music director and Bangladesh Lyricist Composer Performer Association (BLCPS) Sujit Mostafa, Dhaka University Assistant Professor M Atiq Rahman and Director of Bangladesh Publisher and Seller Association Khan Mahbub discussed in the article. Sujit Mostafa said that royalties are given to singers only in different radio, televisions or even BTV or Bangladesh radio, musicians and artists are not given.
