Conference discusses protection of copyrights in film industry

Lam Dong (VNA) - The Copyright Office of Vietnam under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a conference in Da Lat city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on November 22 to discuss the protection of copyrights in the film industry development process.

The event, held within the framework of the ongoing 23rd Vietnam Film Festival in Da Lat city, drew more than 100 delegates who are managers, film makers, directors and actors across the country.

Addressing the event, Vice Director of the Copyright Office of Vietnam Pham Kim Oanh said that violations of copyrights and cinematographic works have still occurred, especially on the internet, causing damage to film producers.

To deal with the problem, Oanh held that it is necessary to roll out synchronous measures, including completing the system of legal documents regarding copyright protection, stepping up communications to raise public awareness of copyright protection, increasing the application of information technology in managing and observing copyrights, and handling infringements in cyberspace.

Director and film producer Luong Dinh Dung held that punishments for violations of film copyrights on the cyber environment have yet to be strict enough. He also proposed greater attention to settling this issue.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet underlined that the development of the digital environment has been posing many challenges in the self-protection of the rights of subjects as well as authorised agencies’ enforcement of copyrights and related rights.

The conference aims to define difficulties and obstacles, and seek measures in protecting copyright, thus completing the legal corridor on copyright and related rights in the film industry, said Viet.

Statistics showed that Vietnam’s film industry thrived strongly in the 2018-2022 period, with a growth rate of 8.03% in production value each year and 7.94% in contributions to the economy annually.

Labour resources in the industry increased 8.05%, while the number of economic establishments operating in the industry rose 8.39%. Cinema revenue reached about 3.4 trillion VND (140.49 million USD) in 2018 and over 4.1 trillion VND in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, due to the impact of COVID-19, the figure decreased significantly to only 750 billion VND and 1.15 trillion VND, respectively. In 2022, the industry's revenue saw good recovery, reaching about 70% of the figure recorded in 2019./.