Protecting Copyright
UNBRIDLED breach of copyright is a common
phenomenon in Nepal. Paying royalty to the creator for using his/her creation for some
purpose is blithely ignored by users of that creation. Musicians and singers, for
instance, have to witness to their daily frustration how electronic media in Nepal
completely overlook the rights of the former to receive royalty for that popular song they
put on the air every day, sometimes several times on a single day. Saying enough is
enough, they got together to form a copyright protection society. But how do you fight the
anything-goes system when legal parameters are not there to book the culprits? Those with
the entertainment industry did valiantly pursue their cause and had the local
administration, for example, come down on those making illegal video copies of their work
on the basis of the existing inadequate Copyright Act 2022. It became plain that this Act
was not going to get the crusaders very far if a culture of respect for copyrights were to
be cultivated. Hence the clamour for a new copyright act.
Responding to the demand of primarily the
entertainment industry and also the need to have the country’s intellectual property
rights system in compliance with TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights) agreement in the run-up to Nepal entering World Trade Organisation (WTO), the
government has drafted a bill. According to officials of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism,
and Civil Aviation, the Copyright Bill-2058, expected to be tabled at the current
parliament session, has significant provisions to make the enforcement aspect more
effective. That gives some hope that the Act, which will cover both industrial property
rights (patents, trademarks, designs) and copyrights (art works), will actually make some
dent on the widespread copyright infraction. The reason why the extant Act has not made
much of a difference in this respect is its lack of enforcement teeth, besides having
inadequate provisions to deal with the intellectual property rights in these modern times.
Under the bill, the ideas to have the Copyright Section under the ministry function as the
Registrar and to provide for a copyright collection society are both sound proposals. The
first would help to establish copyright to a particular intellectual work while the latter
will give those who are behind that labour their dues. Passage of the bill, however, will
not suffice. Regulations that govern details on the implementation of the Act need to be
brought out without delay. Nepal’s creators have suffered enough.
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