Hacked  By  r4dBlack

THIMPHU: Rampant copyright infringement or piracy of creative works in Bhutan could come under fire and eventually go underground, with the government on the verge of launching a coordinated enforcement campaign.
The government’s intellectual property division (IPD), earlier this month, met with enforcement agencies and the business community, to “streamline enforcement procedures and make aware their specific roles and responsibilities”, said Dorji P, a copyright officer.

Despite the existence of a copy right act, piracy in the country is increasing with the local music and film industries bearing the brunt of it, says a fact finding report on the current scenario of intellectual property in Bhutan. The report, compiled for IPD by a local consultant says, “Even though the Copyright Act provides strong provisions the procedural structure of the Bhutanese system has always been a hurdle to deter piracy.”

The report says the police should treat copyright infringement as criminal cases, which includes fining and possible imprisonment of offenders to make clear the seriousness of crime. On the current situation it says, “the Police do not act on a complaint (on copyright infringement) on the grounds that it is not within their jurisdiction”.

Persons whose copyrights are infringed will be able to lodge a complaint with the police before it can carry out an investigation, says the report. Once in possession of a warrant, police can seize relevant articles and store it for evidence during court procedures, or even destroy them if necessary.

The report also states that police personnel, “if satisfied that an offense in respect of the infringement of copyright in any work has been, is being, or is likely to be committed, seize without warrant, all copies of the work, wherever found”. Once a suspect of copyright infringing is arrested, the police can also, search the areas under the suspect’s immediate possession or control, without a warrant.

“The judicial system is very slow and burdensome which makes copyright enforcement an even more difficult task,” says the report. Expensive, time consuming, lack of copyright knowledge by judges, and inadequate penalties, are some of shortcomings pointed out. It says that intellectual property (IP) cases cannot face delays as immediate protection for right holders is required.

IPD is also currently drafting an enforcement rules and regulations booklet to clarify to relevant agencies their duties when the enforcement campaign is launched some time this year.

It will provide enforcement officers with specific instructions on how to handle cases. Customs officers, for instance, if suspicious of a consignment have the power to search and seize pirated goods. The booklet points out that customs officials, if above a certain rank, can also arrest a copyright offender without a warrant.

Copyright officer, Dorji P, did not give an exact timeline on when the enforcement campaign to end piracy will commence as IPD is still waiting for police consensus on persecuting copyright infringing as criminal cases. But he emphasised that RBP is “ready to help,” and all issues would be solved within the week.

Sherub Gyaltshen, the general secretary of the motion picture association of Bhutan (MPAB), said that although MPAB had been persisting on a clamp down detention and imprisonment may be “too harsh” a penalty. He said MPAB would be satisfied with just immediate raids and seizure of pirated goods, when called for.

On whether local businesses, such as video stores renting pirated copies of Bollywood and Hollywood films, would also be raided as part of the campaign, Dorji P, said that this was one of the issues being worked out with the RBP. “Copyright laws could be a double edged sword that can cut both ways,” he said.

“The government can’t do that,” said the owner of a local video rental store, who requested anonymity, on the possibility of being raided. “Everything is pirated here, go to any office and check the computers,” said the owner. “Piracy exists everywhere,” added the owner of another video rental store.

MPAB’s Sherab Gyaltshen said that a total enforcement of copyright laws on local businesses selling or renting illegal copies of non-Bhutanese films, music, or software, needed to be further deliberated. “If we clamp down they, and their families, lose their bread and butter.”