VietNamNet
Bridge – Whether it’s for movies,
books, music, art or software, the concept of intellectual property (IP) is
seldom treated seriously in Vietnam. And in a market where copyright
infringement has become alarmingly popular, legitimate content providers have a
hard time scratching out an existence.
According
to Dr. Le Thi Nam Giang of HCM City Law University, there are five licensed
e-book distributors in Vietnam. By contrast, hundreds of websites provide
pirated books for download free of charge. Their offerings are made under the
pretense of exchanging knowledge in the community, with the common mantra of
“information wants to be free”. Their motives, however, are less than
altruistic: the websites make profits through advertisements.
Similarly,
according to Giang, a licensed film provider once attempted to make a go of it
in Vietnam. But it could not compete with the 180 websites providing films free
of charge, and ultimately shut its doors.
Laws
only exist on paper
Two
years ago, honest merchants were heartened when the Ministry of Culture, Sports
and Tourism released a document jointly with the Ministry of Information and
Communication. It stipulated that websites violating copyright law would be
forced to stop their operation.
Since
then, tens of thousands of violating websites have been brought into the world.
Not one has yet been punished, let alone shuttered.
“You
just need to type “truyen” (stories) on Google to see thousands of books
available for free download,” says Ha Than, CEO of Lac Viet, a prominent
information technology firm.
Dong
Phuoc Vinh, Director of the Youth E-book Company, which has operated for the
last several years, said that e-book distributors in Vietnam cannot exist on
the retail market. At present, his company is living on contracts it has with a
telephone company to provide copyrighted books.
Vinh
said legitimate e-book firms are caught in a vicious cycle. When copyrights
cannot be protected, authors refuse to sign contracts with publishers, making
it difficult for publishers to find high-quality products to launch to the
market.
“E-book
publishers have trouble not only in offering products, but also are subject to
strict control by state agencies and have to compete with numerous copyright
infringers,” Vinh commented. “This is really a desperate situation for
authentic e-book distributors,” he added.
Technical
solutions futile
E-book
distributors have been trying every possible means to protect copyright,
including technical solutions, even though it is inconvenient for readers.
However,
the technical solutions are just like locks for honest people, while at the
same time, it remains relatively easy for those with ill intent to break into
the books to steal the content.
According
to Dr. Hoang Le Minh, head of the Vietnam Software Technology and Digital
Content Institute, controlling internet users through IP is no longer feasible.
“As the
digital environment is getting more and more complex, Vietnam will need both
technical and legal solutions to protect the copyright,” Minh said.“I think
that it is necessary to set up a system at the national level to be in charge
of supervising matters relating to copyright,” he added.
Vinh
from the Youth E-book Company also said that the solution of locking e-books
technically is not enough to make him feel secure. He hopes legal solutions
will be found to settle the current problems.
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