Intellectuals for strong Copyright Act

KATHMANDU: Writers, and representatives of publication houses on Thursday urged for effective implementation of Copyright Act.

According to Nepal Copyright Registrar Office, the first copyright Act was made in 2022 BS, and which was later revised in 2059 BS. In 2061 BS, the first copyright regulation was formed.

In the backdrop of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) having become a serious issue even in World Trade Organisation (WTO), Nepal Copyright Registrar Office organised an interaction here today.

“Lack of proper implementation of the Copyright Act has created hazards for the original writers and publications. The original writers are denied their due share of fame and profit,” said lyricist Yadav Kharel adding that there is also lack of promotion and sale of books. At the same time, piracy has been hitting the original writers hard as they are deprived of their rightful share of royalty.

“Copyright is the exclusive right given to the

original authors by law,” said Bir Bahadur Rai, registrar at Nepal Copyright Registrar Office.

Due to the lack of effectiveness of Copyright Act, there is gap between the publishers and the writers. Rai said that there is always a sort of misunderstanding between the original writers and the publishers as there is no trend of getting formal agreement between the publishers and the writers.

Coldness persists between them as the publishers do not seem interested in taking permission

from the original authors before getting the latter’s creations published.

“Due to all these problems, a large number of authors and writers are deprived of their right to get financial remuneration from their creations. There is no unity among the writers themselves and many of them do not seem concerned enough to act against piracy,” Rai added.

Copyright is a term that describes the right given to creators of a broad range of literary and artistic works. In the Nepalese context, the existing Copyright Act 2002 provides exclusive rights to the creators on their creations. The present copyright act is based upon the Copyright Act 1965.

Literary works include novels, stories, poetical works, textbooks, articles, essays, histories, treaties, encyclopediae, dictionaries, letters, reports, lectures, speeches while artistic works mean — irrespective of the artistic quality thereof — paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, photographs, architecture, craftsmanship and computer softwares.

Core copyright industries are press, literature, music, theatres, operas, motion pictures, videos, radio and , television channels, photography, softwares, databases, visuals, graphics, adverting services and collective managment society.

The international treaties and conventions that Nepal is a party to are World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Convention, Paris convention for the protection of Industrial property, Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works.