Students to pay copyright fees for copied materials
VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre will collect royalties for copied materials as of January 2009.
 |
Doan Thi Lam Luyen, Director of the Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre |
Accordingly, not only those who own photocopiers, printers, etc., those who use copied documents like students, will also have to pay fees.
The right to copy literature works is clearly regulated in international laws and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works but it is quite new in Vietnam. It is common that literary works are copied and distributed everywhere through photocopy services.
Doan Thi Lam Luyen, Director of the Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre, affirmed that this action affects the interests of the authors of literary works so collecting royalties from copying activities is necessary.
However, Luyen couldn’t say for certain how the royalties would be collected or how much they would be. She said in Vietnam, owners of photocopy service shops will have to pay royalties when they buy photocopiers, scanners, printers, etc.
Luyen recently visited some European countries to learn from their experience in protecting literary copyrights. She said in Norway, each citizen has to pay an annual royalty. This method may be applied in Vietnam. Students are the first group of subjects that the centre is looking at.
“According to our surveys, Vietnamese primary school students need around 200-250 copied pages each a year, high school students 400-500 pages, university students 1,000-1,500. With tens of millions of students in Vietnam, the number of literary works being diffused in the form of copied material is very high,” Luyen said. So every year, students may have to pay a certain royalty to the centre.
If this becomes true, collecting royalties from millions of students would be a tough mission for the centre.
“I believe that we can educate students about this. Moreover, annual fees of VND10,000-20,000 are not much,” Luyen said.
Some Vietnamese writers have begun to pay attention to copyright protection. Poet Vi Thuy Linh has registered a copyright for her new poem collection “Vili in Love”.
Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu recently hired lawyers to complete legal formalities to protect his entire body of work.
Songwriter Nguyen Vinh Tien has authorised the Vietnam Music Copyright Protection Centre to be the copyright representative of his songs.
Besides collecting royalties for copying, the Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre will collect royalties from websites that post large numbers of literary works. The centre on November 15 sent letters to Vietnamese writers, expressing its desire to be authorised to protect their works in exchange for 20% of their royalties.
(Source: VNE)
Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//lifestyle/2008/11/814604/
Comments