The media, especially digital, ignores copyright laws resulting inrampant plagiarism and demoralising journalists, a workshop held by theVietnam Journalists Association heard in Ho Chi Minh City on January 28.
"Copyrightviolation has become a worry as serious newspapers spend money andhuman resources to create … an article, picture or video clip, but aminute after it is posted on their website, it is copied and changedwithout fear," Pham Quoc Toan, Vice Chairman of the association, saidwhile opening the "Online Copyright" workshop.
US Consul GeneralRena Bitter said, "One of the factors that help the US develop isefficient protection for copyright and encouragement for everybody toinnovate and create.
"Copyright protection is a must and Vietnam should do it right now, despite the fact that there will be a lot of challenges."
Thingstook a turn for the worse in recent years after 1,000 news websiteswere licensed to operate by "quoting information from newspapers andwebsites of the Party and the Government agencies", as decree Number97/2008/ND-CP on managing and providing online information says.
"However,all 1,000 … have ignored the most important provision in the decreewhich says that use of the information must strictly adhere to the lawson information technology and copyright protection," Nguyen Van Bay ofthe Intellectual Property Agency said.
Le Quoc Minh,Editor-in-Chief of the Vietnam News Agency's online newspaper VietnamPlus, said, "Copy-paste of articles and posting without permission hasbecome common in Vietnam.
"People who set up news websitesviolate copyrights for profits. They ignore a principle that onlinecontent is free for reading not reusing."
In a review of the15-year-old Press Law late last year, the Ministry of Information andTelecommunications admitted that copyright infringements have increasedgreatly.
Le Quoc Vinh, Chairman of the Le Media Joint-StockCompany, said copyright infringements are occurring for four reasons:failure to treat articles as products worth money, gaps in mediapolicies that even end up condoning copyright violation, the legalrequirement that news websites can be set up if they have permissionfrom just five newspapers to use their content, and the lack of concernfor copyright and copyright protection.
"Copyright protection should be taught in primary school," he said.
He blamed the situation also on the fact there are almost no fines for infringing copyrights.
"A copyright protection lawsuit is very complicated and takes a long time."
Hesuggested setting up a non-profit organisation for protecting mediacopyright under the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications withmodern technology to uncover all copyright infringements and collectpenal fees for plagiarised stories and other content.
He called for cancelling the licences of websites that often violate copyrights.
LeXuan Trung, General Managing Editor of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper,said: "Tuoi Tre has set up a taskforce to observe and protectcopyrights. When an infringement is found, an official letter is sent towarn the violators and threaten to sue them if they do not stop."
TuoiTre allows 70 newspapers, State offices, and scientific research andnon-profit organisations to use its content, but refused permission to80 others.
The workshop was organised by the Vietnam Journalists Association and the US consulate in the city.-VNA
"Copyrightviolation has become a worry as serious newspapers spend money andhuman resources to create … an article, picture or video clip, but aminute after it is posted on their website, it is copied and changedwithout fear," Pham Quoc Toan, Vice Chairman of the association, saidwhile opening the "Online Copyright" workshop.
US Consul GeneralRena Bitter said, "One of the factors that help the US develop isefficient protection for copyright and encouragement for everybody toinnovate and create.
"Copyright protection is a must and Vietnam should do it right now, despite the fact that there will be a lot of challenges."
Thingstook a turn for the worse in recent years after 1,000 news websiteswere licensed to operate by "quoting information from newspapers andwebsites of the Party and the Government agencies", as decree Number97/2008/ND-CP on managing and providing online information says.
"However,all 1,000 … have ignored the most important provision in the decreewhich says that use of the information must strictly adhere to the lawson information technology and copyright protection," Nguyen Van Bay ofthe Intellectual Property Agency said.
Le Quoc Minh,Editor-in-Chief of the Vietnam News Agency's online newspaper VietnamPlus, said, "Copy-paste of articles and posting without permission hasbecome common in Vietnam.
"People who set up news websitesviolate copyrights for profits. They ignore a principle that onlinecontent is free for reading not reusing."
In a review of the15-year-old Press Law late last year, the Ministry of Information andTelecommunications admitted that copyright infringements have increasedgreatly.
Le Quoc Vinh, Chairman of the Le Media Joint-StockCompany, said copyright infringements are occurring for four reasons:failure to treat articles as products worth money, gaps in mediapolicies that even end up condoning copyright violation, the legalrequirement that news websites can be set up if they have permissionfrom just five newspapers to use their content, and the lack of concernfor copyright and copyright protection.
"Copyright protection should be taught in primary school," he said.
He blamed the situation also on the fact there are almost no fines for infringing copyrights.
"A copyright protection lawsuit is very complicated and takes a long time."
Hesuggested setting up a non-profit organisation for protecting mediacopyright under the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications withmodern technology to uncover all copyright infringements and collectpenal fees for plagiarised stories and other content.
He called for cancelling the licences of websites that often violate copyrights.
LeXuan Trung, General Managing Editor of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper,said: "Tuoi Tre has set up a taskforce to observe and protectcopyrights. When an infringement is found, an official letter is sent towarn the violators and threaten to sue them if they do not stop."
TuoiTre allows 70 newspapers, State offices, and scientific research andnon-profit organisations to use its content, but refused permission to80 others.
The workshop was organised by the Vietnam Journalists Association and the US consulate in the city.-VNA
