By the decision of UNESCO, April 23 is the international day of book and copyright. For already 3 years the Armenian Misitry of Culture joined this holiday, and regularly organizes events aiming at spreading the book and increasing awareness concerning the copyright. This year this chain of events started on April 21 and will end on April 26.
The influence of these events on the society is not yet examined, but according to some experts, the violation of copyright in Armenia today is more than 90%.
Moreover, these violations take place almost in every field. There’s no single sphere speaking of which the term “piracy” can be omitted. Perhaps, the only “clean” places are theaters where in the case of staging a modern performance all the members of the staff are getting paid – the scriptwriter, the director, the composer, the operator, the producer (after 70 years from the author’s death the law on copyright loses it’s force).
If classical branches of art are more or less “fair”, then plagiarism in the music and television is a usual thing. On one hand it is expressed by the production of false CDs which secures great profit for the law violators, on the other hand, by the complicity of proving the copyright.
By the decision of UNESCO, April 23 is the international day of book and copyright. For already 3 years the Armenian Misitry of Culture joined this holiday, and regularly organizes events aiming at spreading the book and increasing awareness concerning the copyright. This year this chain of events started on April 21 and will end on April 26.
The influence of these events on the society is not yet examined, but according to some experts, the violation of copyright in Armenia today is more than 90%.
Moreover, these violations take place almost in every field. There’s no single sphere speaking of which the term “piracy” can be omitted. Perhaps, the only “clean” places are theaters where in the case of staging a modern performance all the members of the staff are getting paid – the scriptwriter, the director, the composer, the operator, the producer (after 70 years from the author’s death the law on copyright loses it’s force).
If classical branches of art are more or less “fair”, then plagiarism in the music and television is a usual thing. On one hand it is expressed by the production of false CDs which secures great profit for the law violators, on the other hand, by the complicity of proving the copyright.
The lawmakers tried to diminish the flood of illegal CDs by adopting the law on stamp labels which came into force on March 1, 2011. However, even the law didn’t change the picture much. And the consumer still prefers to buy unlisenced CDs and pay less, thus supplementing the chain of violations. There’s an impression that Armenian singers are indifferent or at least tolerant towards these violations.
President of the “Armenian Author” NGO Susanna Nersisyan thinks this is a result of authors’ insolvency. She explains that usually to defend him/herself in the court the author needs a high qualified lawyer. “Unfortunately our judges are unaware of the sphere, hence it is difficult to expect a fair decision from them,” adds Susanna Nersisyan and brings the example of the USA where there are so many court processes regarding copyright that the judges can rely on precedential decisions.
And what should the journalist do when he accidentally opens a newspaper or a web-site and reads his own thoughts and lines under somone else’s name?
Although the head of the “Armenian Author” assures that journalists, too, apply for their help, it appears that in journalism it is more difficult to preserve the copyright, especially when the law on copyright does not consider journalism as an object of copyrighting. According to Susanna Nersisyan, the journalistic material is an object of copyright if it is an analysis which, actually, is hard to differ even for experts.
According to the Deputy Minister of Culture Arthur Poghosyan, the ‘Law on Copyright and Related Rights’, the latest version of which is existing since 2006, is quite a progressive and good law, the problems are related with its application.
“This law does not need any mechanisms. The law properly specifies that the exclusive copyright belongs to the author,” explains Susanna Nersisyan.
She believes that the copyright and mental property violations in Armenia negatively influence on the rating of our country and harm the economy.
Source: JNews.am