Proper execution of copyright laws to 'protect writers' interest'

FE Team | Published: November 23, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

M Azizur Rahman
A developing country like Bangladesh requires proper execution of the copyright laws to protect the interest of creative writers and talents financially and socially.
"The practice of maintaining copyright regulations will also help flourish real talents, protect and nurture their creative and innovative works," the president of the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU), Shiraishi Masaru, told the FE in an exclusive interview.
The ACCU president is now visiting Bangladesh to help Bangladesh government launch the Bengali version of "Asian copyright handbook" to create awareness among the individuals to protect their creative and innovative works.
The Copyright Office, Bangladesh under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs took the initiative recently to launch the handbook.
A three-day national seminar and workshop on copyright awareness and production and utilisation of the Bengali version of Asian copyright handbook was also organised in this connection.
The ACCU, Copyright Office, Bangladesh, Academic and Creative Publishers' Association of Bangladesh, Japan Copyright Office and Agency for Cultural Affairs Japan jointly organised the seminar and workshop in a city hotel that concluded Thursday.
The ACCU president who is also a renowned personality in the Japanese media, hoped that publishing of the Asian copyright handbook in Bengali language would help protect the creative activities of the authors, illustrators and other creative cultural people.
Bangladesh's Copyright Act 2000 was amended in 2005. The government also enacted Copyright Rules in 2006.
Referring to the current copyright practices in Japan, the ACCU chief said the Japanese creative writers get 10 per cent of the net sales of their creative works as royalty.
"In Japan, the copyright laws are being executed for many years to protect the literature and creative writings," Shiraishi, also the special adviser of a leading Japanese publishing house Bungei Shunju Ltd, said.
He, however, said that immediately after the World War II Japanese used to copy technologies of the then developed countries to manufacture electronic devices.
Copying of technologies by the then Japanese was called 'copycat society,' he said.
"The Japanese copycat society was in existence for about 15 years from 1945 to early 1960s," the ACCU president admitted saying: "During that time the Japanese were keen to create or innovate something original."
The Japanese were actually ashamed of being the copycat society and later they had decided to work hard to change their fate, he said.
In early 1970s, the Japanese stopped copying overseas technologies with the emergence of world-class companies like Sony and Honda, the ACCU president said referring to the industrialisation in Japan after the World War II.
He, however, said that the Japanese had advanced in technologies like aircraft manufacturing and ship building before the war.
But many of the Japanese industries were destroyed and the scientists were killed
The ACCU, established in 1971 as a non-profit organisation in line with the UNESCO's basic principles, has so far published the handbook in seven separate languages to create awareness and ensure copyright practices in the Asian countries.
"It aims to contribute from the Asia-Pacific perspectives to the realisation of a peaceful and sustainable society where cultural diversity is duly respected," the ACCU president said elaborating his organisation's objectives.
The ACCU also works closely with the peoples in the Asia-Pacific for effectively promoting regional cooperation and exchanging programmes of innovative approaches in the fields of culture and education to enhance mutual understanding and realise sustainable future, he said.