Md. Azizur Rahman FCS :
Bangladesh is home to numerous creative people but the creative industries cannot flourish due to infringement of IPRs. In order to address the copyrights issues number of CMO should be established. Considering administrative hassles and the narrow scope of sector-wise activities in creative industries; the CMO should be integrated for all the creative industries and there can be more than one integrated CMO which will also diminish the scope of monopoly behavior.
This article emphasizes on the requirement of an integrated Collective Management Organisation (CMO) for creative industries to address copyright issues in Bangladesh. In comparison with the situation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues on a global scale copyright violation is also a big concern in Bangladesh. Most of the people in our country are not aware about the regulation of copyrights and negative economic impact of its violation. There is also a lack of effective enforcement in our country due to which many authors, publishers, film makers, musicians, artists, investors and other stakeholders in the area of creative industries are losing their interest. The relevant stakeholders are losing their intellectual and commercial rights. As a result, creative industries are struggling to progress further which significantly affects our national economic growth as well as the country’s reputation.
Bangladesh is a place of creative people in different sectors but it is unable to flourish in the creative industries due to the limitations of scope being a least developed country. The number of creative people has been on a rise in the recent years. But due to absence of a CMO and ineffective IP enforcement the creative industries are not shining like they do in the neighboring countries. On the other hand, there is no development in the linkage industries which could have contributed significantly to our national economy.
You may be wondering what a CMO is and what its functions are! A Collective Management Organisation (CMO) is generally formed by copyright holders to manage the rights in their copyright work. CMO administers the licensing of Intellectual Property (IP) and commercial rights, collection of royalties and enforcement of rights on their behalf. CMO must be an independent and a non-profitable organization which should be well accepted by the relevant stakeholders. There is currently no CMO functioning in Bangladesh but it exists in other countries.Government has issued a CMO license for music industry only. Considering administrative hassles, the narrow scope of sector wise activities in creative industries; the CMO should be integrated for all the creative industries. Since Bangladesh’s IPR scenario is different than other developed countries, sector wise CMO would be highly ambitious to sustain. Rather, an integrated CMO will facilitate the development of entire creative industries which may include authors, publishers, film makers, artists, investors and other stakeholders of creative industries where musicians can also be an integral part of it. Establishment of an integrated CMO or more than one integrated CMO do not conflict with the Copyright Act of Bangladesh rather it will be options to the stakeholders for selecting the services. In addition, such initiatives may diminish the scope of monopoly behavior if a single CMO is created for a particular sector in the creative industries. The people of Bangladesh are used to buying pirated books, movies, music CDs, software and other goods. Piracy is a common issue world-wide especially in our nation where people do not intend to buy original goods due to purchasing inability and because pirated copies are readily available at a much cheaper price. These days one can find almost everything for free on the internet such as software, songs, movies, e-books and so on. Piracy is discouraging singers, innovators, producers, publishers, software developers and investors. It is the dire responsibility and duty of the IP Enforcement authorities to take necessary steps as soon as possible. On the other hand it is very important that the respective industries play a strong role in addressing the issues of piracy. A lot of effort and initiative have to be taken by the Government’s associated wings to solve these IP issues. These undertakings should come from policy making level and should be implemented up to grass root level.
At times enforcement agencies raid huge amounts of unauthorized copied books, pirated CD’s, movies, software and related machineries, etc. But to bring out a visible result, IP enforcement has to be more frequent and most importantly market monitoring has to be amplified and the punishment for violating copyrights should be increased so that people think twice before committing such a crime. IPAB works with a vision to facilitate the stakeholders in order to fasten up these issues and in quest for supports from private sectors and development agencies to stop piracy and facilitate anti-piracy groups. This determination will be able to make a significant change throughout the structure of IP system in Bangladesh and positively impact the economy of the country.
It is expected that this article will create awareness about the necessity of an integrated CMO establishment rather than sector wise CMO concept to address the copyright issues.
Bangladesh is home to numerous creative people but the creative industries cannot flourish due to infringement of IPRs. In order to address the copyrights issues number of CMO should be established. Considering administrative hassles and the narrow scope of sector-wise activities in creative industries; the CMO should be integrated for all the creative industries and there can be more than one integrated CMO which will also diminish the scope of monopoly behavior.
This article emphasizes on the requirement of an integrated Collective Management Organisation (CMO) for creative industries to address copyright issues in Bangladesh. In comparison with the situation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues on a global scale copyright violation is also a big concern in Bangladesh. Most of the people in our country are not aware about the regulation of copyrights and negative economic impact of its violation. There is also a lack of effective enforcement in our country due to which many authors, publishers, film makers, musicians, artists, investors and other stakeholders in the area of creative industries are losing their interest. The relevant stakeholders are losing their intellectual and commercial rights. As a result, creative industries are struggling to progress further which significantly affects our national economic growth as well as the country’s reputation.
Bangladesh is a place of creative people in different sectors but it is unable to flourish in the creative industries due to the limitations of scope being a least developed country. The number of creative people has been on a rise in the recent years. But due to absence of a CMO and ineffective IP enforcement the creative industries are not shining like they do in the neighboring countries. On the other hand, there is no development in the linkage industries which could have contributed significantly to our national economy.
You may be wondering what a CMO is and what its functions are! A Collective Management Organisation (CMO) is generally formed by copyright holders to manage the rights in their copyright work. CMO administers the licensing of Intellectual Property (IP) and commercial rights, collection of royalties and enforcement of rights on their behalf. CMO must be an independent and a non-profitable organization which should be well accepted by the relevant stakeholders. There is currently no CMO functioning in Bangladesh but it exists in other countries.Government has issued a CMO license for music industry only. Considering administrative hassles, the narrow scope of sector wise activities in creative industries; the CMO should be integrated for all the creative industries. Since Bangladesh’s IPR scenario is different than other developed countries, sector wise CMO would be highly ambitious to sustain. Rather, an integrated CMO will facilitate the development of entire creative industries which may include authors, publishers, film makers, artists, investors and other stakeholders of creative industries where musicians can also be an integral part of it. Establishment of an integrated CMO or more than one integrated CMO do not conflict with the Copyright Act of Bangladesh rather it will be options to the stakeholders for selecting the services. In addition, such initiatives may diminish the scope of monopoly behavior if a single CMO is created for a particular sector in the creative industries. The people of Bangladesh are used to buying pirated books, movies, music CDs, software and other goods. Piracy is a common issue world-wide especially in our nation where people do not intend to buy original goods due to purchasing inability and because pirated copies are readily available at a much cheaper price. These days one can find almost everything for free on the internet such as software, songs, movies, e-books and so on. Piracy is discouraging singers, innovators, producers, publishers, software developers and investors. It is the dire responsibility and duty of the IP Enforcement authorities to take necessary steps as soon as possible. On the other hand it is very important that the respective industries play a strong role in addressing the issues of piracy. A lot of effort and initiative have to be taken by the Government’s associated wings to solve these IP issues. These undertakings should come from policy making level and should be implemented up to grass root level.
At times enforcement agencies raid huge amounts of unauthorized copied books, pirated CD’s, movies, software and related machineries, etc. But to bring out a visible result, IP enforcement has to be more frequent and most importantly market monitoring has to be amplified and the punishment for violating copyrights should be increased so that people think twice before committing such a crime. IPAB works with a vision to facilitate the stakeholders in order to fasten up these issues and in quest for supports from private sectors and development agencies to stop piracy and facilitate anti-piracy groups. This determination will be able to make a significant change throughout the structure of IP system in Bangladesh and positively impact the economy of the country.
It is expected that this article will create awareness about the necessity of an integrated CMO establishment rather than sector wise CMO concept to address the copyright issues.
(Md. Azizur Rahman, FCS is Secretary General, IPAB)
