Vietnam Takes Step to Improve Software Copyright Violations

Text of report in English by Vietnamese newspaper Thanh Nien on 20 April

[Report by Diem Thu]

Though software copyright violation is pervasive in Vietnam, local courts have received surprisingly few complaints.

For the past 28 years, local courts processed only 20 software copyright cases, Copyright Office of Vietnam Director Vu Manh Chu told a Protecting Software Copyright seminar Friday.

The seminar, organized by the Copyright Office, the Supreme Court and the Business Software Alliance (BSA), was designed to provide local judges with the knowledge and skills needed to better arbitrate business software copyright infringement cases.

The BSA, a trade group established in 1988, represents a number of the world’s largest software makers such as IBM and Apple Co.

Chu said though software copyright violation was a global problem, it was “particularly serious” in Vietnam.

According to the BSA’s latest figures 88 per cent of Vietnamese software users violate copyright laws, while the figure for the whole Asia Pacific region is 55 per cent.

President of the Supreme Court’s Judiciary Staff Training Centre Nguyen Van Thong said district and provincial courts had received 320 copyright infringement cases from 2000 to 2007 but only a handful of them were related to software copyright.

He said the small number of lawsuits did not reflect what was truly happening and courts were yet to pay due attention to software copyright violations.

According to Chu, lax enforcement, ignorance and disrespect for copyright laws were major reasons violations were so common in Vietnam.

BSA Asia’s Anti-Piracy Director Tarun Sawney said a large number of local businesses were not aware of the importance of investing in software technology.

And the few who were didn’t bother to buy copyrighted software as pirated programmes were so much cheaper, according to Sawney.

He said it was one thing for students to take advantage of cheap, or free, pirated software.

But for businesses who know software providers have to make a return on their products, it was unacceptable.

Others at the seminar suggested reducing copyrighted software prices was one way to drive cheap pirated products out of business.

On the bright side, Chu told the seminar in Da Nang, Vietnam was planning to allow law enforcement agencies to press criminal charges against software copyright violators.

The maximum fine for software copyright violators had also been increased to VND500 million ($31,250), he said.

Sawney said two businesses had recently been sued for violating software copyright, one of them was an electronics company based in Japan.

Online Music Websites Granted Copyright

Six online music websites Saturday were given the green light by the Recording Industry Association of Vietnam (RIAV) to use recordings of Vietnamese songs.

The administrative companies of six websites www.yeuamnhac.com, www.nhac.vui.vn, www.socbay.com, www.pops.vn, www.inghe.vn and www.mp3.zing.vn were given the rights to use all kinds of Vietnamese music files and recordings.

After they pay RIAV VND1 million (US$62) per song per year, the websites will be able to sell the music, offer free downloads and even allow people to listen for free.

Representative of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), RIAV’s umbrella organization, Leong May Seey said she was pleased to see Vietnam taking its first steps towards using legal music on the Internet.

Seey said music piracy in Vietnam was one of the worst in the world but she hoped RIAV and relevant government’s agencies would enforce copyright laws more strictly in future, especially in the recording industry.

Representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Information, the city’s Association of Intellectual Property and more than 50 recording companies Saturday attended an event to mark the granting of the online rights.

RIAV represents the interests of the recording industry in Vietnam.

It acts on behalf of more than 50 companies and its stated policies are to fight music piracy and lobby for the enforcement of copyright laws, including digital rights management.

Originally published by Thanh Nien, Ho Chi Minh City, in English 20 Apr 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.