National Assembly Delegate Nghe An raised opinions to protect the rights and interests of intellectual property owners.

Panorama of the working session on the morning of May 31 at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House. Photo: Quang Khanh

Speaking at the discussion, delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province commented: The Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Intellectual Property submitted to this session has been carefully and meticulously researched and revised; thereby expressing basic agreement with the Report on reception and explanation of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Commenting on this draft Law, delegate Thai Thi An Chung mentioned a number of contents. Accordingly, regarding the personal rights of authors and performers, Clause 5, Article 1 of the Draft Law amending and supplementing Clause 4, Article 19 of the Law on Intellectual Property stipulates the personal rights of authors as follows: "To protect the integrity of the work, not allowing others to distort it; not allowing others to modify or cut the work in any form that harms the honor and reputation of the author".

National Assembly Permanent Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man chaired the working session. Photo: Quang Khanh

And in Clause 13, Article 1 of the Draft Law amending and supplementing Clause 2, Article 29 of the Law on Intellectual Property, the personal rights of performers are also stipulated as follows: "The integrity of the performing image is protected, not allowing others to distort it; not allowing others to modify or cut it in any form that harms the honor and reputation of the performer".

The delegate of Nghe An Delegation proposed to remove the phrase "harming the honor and reputation of the author" in Clause 5 and the phrase "harming the honor and reputation of the performer" in Clause 13, both stipulated in Article 1, to ensure consistency within this regulation because any modification or cut, no matter how small, will affect the integrity of the work or performing image.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung presented a report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Intellectual Property. Photo: Quang Khanh

Regarding the exceptions that do not infringe copyright, Clause 9, Article 1 of the draft Law amending and supplementing Point a, Clause 1, Article 25 of the Law on Intellectual Property stipulates an additional exception that does not infringe copyright: "Self-copying 1 copy for scientific research, personal study and not for commercial purposes. This provision does not apply in cases of copying using public copying equipment".

Referring to the above regulation, delegate Thai Thi An Chung analyzed: One of the requirements when regulating copyright is to resolve conflicts between personal interests and public interests. Therefore, the issue of exceptions to the right to copy works needs to be regulated to balance the interests between the author, the owner of the work and the community.

Although the draft provides conditions for copying such as: The purpose of copying is for scientific research, study and not for commercial purposes; the method of copying is self-copying, not copying using public copying equipment.

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An spoke at the discussion. Photo: Quang Khanh

However, allowing one copy, that is, the entire work, will seriously affect the property rights of the author and owner of the work, especially for scientific works such as textbooks, teaching materials, research books, monographs, etc. because the number of researchers and students is very large. Currently, only counting students and pupils, there are nearly 20 million people.

“This regulation will make it impossible for authors and owners of works to be compensated for the costs of creative activities and will not encourage creativity. On the other hand, there is currently no regulation on what constitutes a “public copying device”, so it will be very difficult to control copying,” the female delegate said during a discussion session at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House.

Therefore, the Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An proposed to remove this regulation and only allow reasonable self-copying of a part of a work using a copying device for scientific research, personal study and not for commercial purposes.

Delegates at the working session on the morning of May 31 at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House. Photo: Quang Khanh

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung also agreed with not narrowing the scope of administrative sanctions in the field of intellectual property. However, the delegate suggested further research and consideration of regulations on forms of administrative sanctions and remedial measures.

For example, Clause 2, Article 214 of the draft Law stipulates: “In addition to the forms of sanctions and remedial measures prescribed by law on handling administrative violations, organizations and individuals infringing intellectual property rights may also be subject to remedial measures of being forced to distribute or put into non-commercial use counterfeit intellectual property goods, raw materials, materials and means used primarily to produce and trade counterfeit intellectual property goods, provided that this does not affect the ability to exploit the rights of intellectual property rights holders”.

According to the Deputy Head of the Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Nghe An, this regulation will lead to overlap and conflict with current regulations on handling administrative violations, because these documents clearly stipulate the applicable cases and forms of sanctions such as: fines, confiscation of exhibits, means of administrative violations and remedial measures, including measures such as forced destruction of counterfeit goods on intellectual property, forced removal of infringing elements on goods and packaging of goods; forced removal from Vietnam's territory or re-export of goods, items, means of imported goods, transit goods that infringe intellectual property rights, counterfeit goods of intellectual property rights after removing infringing elements...

Delegates at the working session on the morning of May 31 at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House. Photo: Quang Khanh

This regulation also does not ensure strictness because the distribution or use of counterfeit intellectual property goods, raw materials, materials, and means to produce counterfeit intellectual property goods, even if not for commercial purposes, must also ensure product quality conditions according to the provisions of law on product and goods quality.

“On the other hand, if the continued distribution and use of counterfeit intellectual property goods as proposed in the draft is allowed, it will not ensure strictness in handling intellectual property violations and will not protect the rights and interests of intellectual property owners, because determining whether or not there is an impact on the ability to exploit intellectual property rights is very difficult to obtain consensus from relevant parties,” said the female delegate of Nghe An Delegation.