The Copyright Bill 2023 was passed in Parliament on Monday providing a penalty of Tk 500,000 for publishing, serving or performing any work of others without having copyright of such content, reports UNB.
For the violation of copyright of films the maximum punishment is five years of imprisonment and Tk 1.0 million in fine.
State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid moved the Bill in the House and it was passed by voice vote.
The proposed law will replace the Copyright Act 2000.
Several definitions have been added and removed in the draft law.
Definitions of anonymous or pseudonymous work owner, database, public domain, monogram, producer, person, folk song, folk culture, editor, property rights have been added.
If there is any intellectual property issue for the visually impaired, it is mentioned in the law to ensure it.
Penalty has been put in place to prevent piracy. Digital such as computer-based activities have been brought under the law, which was not the case earlier. Actions have been proposed against copyright infringement on digital platforms.
New clauses have been added in the law to protect the rights of folk songs.
In the objective of the Bill, the minister said that copyright is an important issue for the legal recognition and protection of intellectual property that is created through creativity and culture.
Realising the importance of copyright at the national and international levels, the Copyright Act, 2000 was enacted in conformity as much as possible with international law.
The Act was subsequently amended in 2005.
