VietNamNet Bridge – Fining telecommunication and internet
services providers that violate copyright laws is proving difficult in Viet Nam
even though the necessary legal system is in place.
According to the Viet Nam
Internet Network Information Centre, Viet Nam has about 1.1 million domains
that end in ".vn", and hundreds of thousands of global domain names,
as well as websites and social networks.
However, To Van Long, head of the
Copyright Division of the Copyright Office of Viet Nam, said that only a few
hundred websites had registered for copyright licences.
He added that online copyright
violations still occured in many telecommunication services such as printing,
publishing, music production, on-line media, software, social networks and
digital searches.
A joint circular stipulating
compensation for cyber copyright violations was issued last June but no cases
had been reported, said Long.
According to the legal document,
business owners are liable to pay damages pertaining to copyright violations
and other related rights as prescribed by Vietnamese law. The circular also
stipulates personal criminal liability for those violating copyrights when
using social networks.
Vo Do Thang, director of the
Athena Network Security Centre, said that although the new circular had many
strict regulations, online service providers were still worried about its
effectiveness.
The highest fine for copyright
violations as regulated by Vietnamese law is up to VND500 million (US$24,000),
however, Vu Manh Chu, director of the Copyright Office of Viet Nam, said that
on-line copyright violations were becoming more popular, especially in the
digital environment, as it was difficult to trace violations.
Long agreed, saying: "Copying
and modifying website source code is the most difficult to discover. It takes
us a lot of time."
He explained that they only knew
about violations when complaints were sent to the Copyright Division, and the
division had received only 10 complaints relating to copyright violations so
far this year, compared to the 30 registered in 2011.
Le Van Tuan, who owns websites
and online social media networks, said that it was difficult to check the
copyright of digital works because many of them are posted voluntarily for
sharing purposes.
According to Thang, the
authorities would find it difficult to settle digital-based copyright
violations when websites and social networks have servers located abroad.
For Chu, the biggest obstacle
impeding the control of online copywrite violations is poor public awareness:
"People don't care about the importance of copyright. They know they
violate the law, but they still do it, in many sophisticated manners."
"The public needs to be
active in denouncing violations, whereas the media should take the lead in
respecting copyright," added Chu.
VietNamNet/VNS
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