Copyright Issues

Sheikh Abdul Hakim, a writer best known for his detective stories ‘Masud Rana’, was recently seen walking in front of the Copyright Office Bangladesh at Agargaon. “I wrote several books for the ‘Masud Rana’ series for a well-known publication. But I made the mistake of using my name in only a few of them. Out of the 260 stories I wrote, there are only seven books that have my name on them. That is why the Copyright Office has granted me relative rights for those seven books only. I would like to urge the young writers to register their work,” he told this reporter.  

Copyright is indeed a big issue nowadays. On April 26, Bangladesh will mark World Intellectual Property Day. Every year, the day is observed worldwide to inform people about intellectual property (IP) rights, which include copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and so on.  According to World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), this year’s theme, ‘Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity’, celebrates the brilliance, ingenuity, curiosity, and courage of women who are driving change in our world and shaping our common future.

Manzur E Khuda Asheq, 32, is a singer who has been associated with the music business since his early 20s. “When it comes to copyrighting of music in our country, most of the singers, composers, and lyricists do not get the credit they deserve. The music industry is not governed by law. For example, if I release an album today, the very next day, some street vendor will be selling the pirated CD of that album,” he said. “Then again, one will find many music shops in the capital and all around the country that sell CDs and DVDs without any proper authorisation. According to Universal Copyright Convention, it is a crime and one cannot sell intellectual properties in this fashion.”

Mamun Ahmed, 23, a student of Dhaka International University, was browsing through some music and movie DVDs at a shopping mall in the capital. He soon picked a Hollywood movie DVD, which had no ratings marked on the cover. He later told this reporter: “Coincidently enough, this same movie has been screened at some of the cinema halls of Dhaka. I used to think it was alright to buy or even download such films from local torrent sites.”

Local torrent sites allow one to download a range of content without any payment. Of course, Bangladesh is not the only country to suffer from this, but one can certainly take some action against it. Jafor Reza, registrar of Copyright Office Bangladesh (COB), informed Y&I: “It is true such websites exist. Now the problem is as long as no one complains about their content, we cannot take action. They know it is illegal, but we need people to come forward and file complaints about it.”    

“There are two kinds of intellectual property. One is industrial property, which is taken care of by the industries ministry. Industrial property rights are patents, scientific innovations, trademarks, designs, etc. The second type is copyright property, under which falls artwork, literature, music, intellectual concepts, etc. Now, the most problems we face when it comes to copyright issues are with songs. According to our Copyright Law 2000, which was later amended in 2005, the composer and lyricist get the copyright and the singer gets relative rights. The difference between copyright and relative right is that copyright exists for 60 years, and relative right for 50 years. For example, Rabindranath Tagore’s literature can be published by any publishing house without changing a word of his work and his surviving family members won’t get any royalties. On the other hand, it has not been 60 years yet since the death of our national poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam. So, his family still receives royalties. Moreover, if anyone wants to release an album of his songs, they must get clearance from Kazi Nazrul Islam Institute,” Reza said.

Now, anyone can send their complaint to the Copyright Office by visiting their website at http://copyrightoffice.gov.bd/. People can even apply for copyright registration online.

“Nowadays, we are receiving a lot of complaints. Recently, we handled some high profile cases. For example, some of the well-known bands of our country have been coming to us to register their songs. Some young YouTubers are also contacting us to ensure copyright of their contents. Right now, we are working to improve our copyright act and we will soon submit it for consideration. Today, it cannot be said we are doing well when it comes to copyrighting, but we are slowly heading towards a situation where we will have more control and people would have to follow the rules. We have a task force, but it is not active at the moment. The copyright taskforce consists of 14 members, including some law enforcement agents. We are hopeful that our taskforce will soon have a new committee, and we will become more active,” Reza added.  

“As to punishment for copyright infringement, it varies from one intellectual property to another. For example, when it comes to violating movie copyright, the punishment is five years’ imprisonment and a penalty of Tk 500,000. Now, if a person buys a book or a DVD knowing it is an illegal copy, the moral question comes in front of us. There is very little we can do about that. The only thing we can do is we can build awareness, with the help of the media and people concerned,” the COB registrar said.  

Maria Mohsin, a journalist with a national daily, likes to read and she recently purchased some books from a Facebook page, named Worthy Books BD. “After buying some books, it came to my notice that the company is printing the PDF versions of the latest foreign publications and selling those on social media.  Most probably they do not have the proper authorisation to sell these books,” she told Y&I. “When I first bought the books, I was not aware of the fact it is illegal to purchase reprinted books like this from such sellers.” Calls to the phone number posted on the FB page were not answered.

Rakib Amin, 30, a digital content designer, told this reporter: “I am a freelance content designer. Many a time we look at other people’s work for inspiration. That being said, I should have the privilege to claim what is rightfully mine. For example, if I make any sort of design or logo for a local company, I certainly don’t want that design to be copied by some other company.”  

When it comes to copying online educational materials, for example, ‘Math Solution’ for class-8, there is no law against it, yet. One positive news is the concept of copyright or intellectual property (IP) has been introduced in a class-7 textbook. The Copyright Office Bangladesh believes this is an excellent way to teach our youths about IP rights and improve their ethics on the issue.   

Tiya Khanum, 30, managing director of Bangla Puzzle, has been involved in software development since her university days. “Today, it has become quite important to get copyright for the product we are producing. When it comes to software development or app (application) development, one needs to be extra careful. Right now, we are going to register two 3D books, which will be launched very soon,” she said.

With the advancement of technology, many of us now have access to a camera on our mobile phones. The interesting thing is unlike other gadgets, a camera has become a quite a necessity for today’s youths. This has helped photography itself a great deal as more and more people are becoming passionate about taking photographs.

Rahid Hassan, 23, a student of Dhaka University, has keen interest in photography. Besides taking pictures of everyday life, he likes to photograph wildlife. “At our university, there are many passionate photographers like me. We all try to submit our best pictures for different photography contests, and sometimes we give our pictures to some newspapers. Now, the sad part is many of our photos, which took a great deal of hard work to capture, can be found on some online portals. The disappointing aspect about the whole thing is most of them do not bother to inform us or get our permission. We have tried to leave watermarks on the pictures, but those do not work any longer as they can be removed using Photoshop. I hope the authorities who are dealing with copyright issues will have some positive news for us in the future. The funny thing is I am not the victim here. There are many young photographers all around the country who have not been rewarded or even acknowledged for their hard work,” he said.   

Shahidul KK Shuvra, an IT journalist, told Y&I: “I am not a believer in traditional copyright laws, those are very old laws and too restrictive for development. We may try to prevent stealing of someone’s ideas and creative products, but in the era of cyberspace, it won’t be possible to stop it entirely, everything there is unpredictable. So, making stringent laws may be more of a curse than a blessing.”

Photos: Nazmul Islam, File.

 

Copyright Issues

Sheikh Abdul Hakim, a writer best known for his detective stories Masud Rana, was recently seen walking in front of the Copyright Office Bangladesh at Agargaon. I wrote several books for the Masud Rana series for a well-known publication. But I made the mistake of using my name in only a few of them. Out of the 260 stories I wrote, there are only seven books that have my name on them. That is why the Copyright Office has granted me relative rights for those seven books only. I would like to urge the young writers to register their work, he told this reporter. Copyright is indeed a big issue nowadays. On April 26, Bangladesh will mark World Intellectual Property Day. Every year, the day is observed worldwide to inform people about intellectual property (IP) rights, which include copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and so on. According to World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), this years theme, Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity, celebrates the brilliance, ingenuity, curiosity, and courage of women who are driving change in our world and shaping our common future. Manzur E Khuda Asheq, 32, is a singer who has been associated with the music business since his early 20s. When it comes to copyrighting of music in our country, most of the singers, composers, and lyricists do not get the credit they deserve. The music industry is not governed by law. For example, if I release an album today, the very next day, some street vendor will be selling the pirated CD of that album, he said. Then again, one will find many music shops in the capital and all around the country that sell CDs and DVDs without any proper authorisation. According to Universal Copyright Convention, it is a crime and one cannot sell intellectual properties in this fashion. Mamun Ahmed, 23, a student of Dhaka International University, was browsing through some music and movie DVDs at a shopping mall in the capital. He soon picked a Hollywood movie DVD, which had no ratings marked on the cover. He later told this reporter: Coincidently enough, this same movie has been screened at some of the cinema halls of Dhaka. I used to think it was alright to buy or even download such films from local torrent sites. Local torrent sites allow one to download a range of content without any payment. Of course, Bangladesh is not the only country to suffer from this, but one can certainly take some action against it. Jafor Reza, registrar of Copyright Office Bangladesh (COB), informed YI: It is true such websites exist. Now the problem is as long as no one complains about their content, we cannot take action. They know it is illegal, but we need people to come forward and file complaints about it. There are two kinds of intellectual property. One is industrial property, which is taken care of by the industries ministry. Industrial property rights are patents, scientific innovations, trademarks, designs, etc. The second type is copyright property, under which falls artwork, literature, music, intellectual concepts, etc. Now, the most problems we face when it comes to copyright issues are with songs. According to our Copyright Law 2000, which was later amended in 2005, the composer and lyricist get the copyright and the singer gets relative rights. The difference between copyright and relative right is that copyright exists for 60 years, and relative right for 50 years. For example, Rabindranath Tagores literature can be published by any publishing house without changing a word of his work and his surviving family members wont get any royalties. On the other hand, it has not been 60 years yet since the death of our national poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam. So, his family still receives royalties. Moreover, if anyone wants to release an album of his songs, they must get clearance from Kazi Nazrul Islam Institute, Reza said. Now, anyone can send their complaint to the Copyright Office by visiting their website at http://copyrightoffice.gov.bd/. People can even apply for copyright registration online. Nowadays, we are receiving a lot of complaints. Recently, we handled some high profile cases. For example, some of the well-known bands of our country have been coming to us to register their songs. Some young YouTubers are also contacting us to ensure copyright of their contents. Right now, we are working to improve our copyright act and we will soon submit it for consideration. Today, it cannot be said we are doing well when it comes to copyrighting, but we are slowly heading towards a situation where we will have more control and people would have to follow the rules. We have a task force, but it is not active at the moment. The copyright taskforce consists of 14 members, including some law enforcement agents. We are hopeful that our taskforce will soon have a new committee, and we will become more active, Reza added. As to punishment for copyright infringement, it varies from one intellectual property to another. For example, when it comes to violating movie copyright, the punishment is five years imprisonment and a penalty of Tk 500,000. Now, if a person buys a book or a DVD knowing it is an illegal copy, the moral question comes in front of us. There is very little we can do about that. The only thing we can do is we can build awareness, with the help of the media and people concerned, the COB registrar said. Maria Mohsin, a journalist with a national daily, likes to read and she recently purchased some books from a Facebook page, named Worthy Books BD. After buying some books, it came to my notice that the company is printing the PDF versions of the latest foreign publications and selling those on social media. Most probably they do not have the proper authorisation to sell these books, she told YI. When I first bought the books, I was not aware of the fact it is illegal to purchase reprinted books like this from such sellers. Calls to the phone number posted on the FB page were not answered. Rakib Amin, 30, a digital content designer, told this reporter: I am a freelance content designer. Many a time we look at other peoples work for inspiration. That being said, I should have the privilege to claim what is rightfully mine. For example, if I make any sort of design or logo for a local company, I certainly dont want that design to be copied by some other company. When it comes to copying online educational materials, for example, Math Solution for class-8, there is no law against it, yet. One positive news is the concept of copyright or intellectual property (IP) has been introduced in a class-7 textbook. The Copyright Office Bangladesh believes this is an excellent way to teach our youths about IP rights and improve their ethics on the issue. Tiya Khanum, 30, managing director of Bangla Puzzle, has been involved in software development since her university days. Today, it has become quite important to get copyright for the product we are producing. When it comes to software development or app (application) development, one needs to be extra careful. Right now, we are going to register two 3D books, which will be launched very soon, she said. With the advancement of technology, many of us now have access to a camera on our mobile phones. The interesting thing is unlike other gadgets, a camera has become a quite a necessity for todays youths. This has helped photography itself a great deal as more and more people are becoming passionate about taking photographs. Rahid Hassan, 23, a student of Dhaka University, has keen interest in photography. Besides taking pictures of everyday life, he likes to photograph wildlife. At our university, there are many passionate photographers like me. We all try to submit our best pictures for different photography contests, and sometimes we give our pictures to some newspapers. Now, the sad part is many of our photos, which took a great deal of hard work to capture, can be found on some online portals. The disappointing aspect about the whole thing is most of them do not bother to inform us or get our permission. We have tried to leave watermarks on the pictures, but those do not work any longer as they can be removed using Photoshop. I hope the authorities who are dealing with copyright issues will have some positive news for us in the future. The funny thing is I am not the victim here. There are many young photographers all around the country who have not been rewarded or even acknowledged for their hard work, he said. Shahidul KK Shuvra, an IT journalist, told YI: I am not a believer in traditional copyright laws, those are very old laws and too restrictive for development. We may try to prevent stealing of someones ideas and creative products, but in the era of cyberspace, it wont be possible to stop it entirely, everything there is unpredictable. So, making stringent laws may be more of a curse than a blessing. Photos: Nazmul Islam, File.