Strongly handle copyright infringement in the publishing industry
To further develop the publishing industry, the important task is to take strong action in dealing with piracy and illegal book publishing, while promoting streamlined books and electronic publishing.
On December 21, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Vietnam Publishing Association co-organized the 2022 conference of publishing house management agencies.
The conference was attended by Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department Tran Thanh Lam, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam, Chairman of the Vietnam Publishing Association Hoang Vinh Bao, Director of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution Nguyen Nguyen...
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Mr. Nguyen Nguyen - Director of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution spoke at the conference. Photo: Thuy Trang |
Assessing publishing activities in 2022, Mr. Nguyen Nguyen - Director of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution said that currently, the country has 57 publishing houses under 53 governing agencies, including 48 central publishing houses and 9 local publishing houses. Revenue of publishing houses is estimated at 3,200 billion, up 6%.
“By the end of November 2022, we ranked No. 1 in Southeast Asia in terms of quantity in 2022 with 34,496 titles. Thailand or Indonesia ranked second with the number of titles from 24,000 to 27,000. The number of 487,385,939 copies (excluding audiobooks and other e-books), a decrease of 13.1% in the number of books, an increase of 5.4% in the number of copies is also a big surprise in the industry. These statistics show confidence in our current reading culture,” Mr. Nguyen Nguyen shared.
According to the Director of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution, another highlight in 2022 of publishing activities is the digital transformation and development of e-publishing by publishers being accelerated. If in 2018 there were only 2 publishers, 2019 there were 4 publishers, 2020 there were 6 publishers, 2021 there were 11 publishers, then in 2022 there will be 19 publishers. That is not a large number compared to the region but it is a great effort in the conditions of limited capacity, potential and scale of publishers.
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Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam - Deputy Minister of Information and Communications. Photo: Thuy Trang |
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam - Deputy Minister of Information and Communications acknowledged the opinions of the delegates shared at the conference and said that next year, the management agency will amend the decree on royalties in publishing. At the same time, the Ministry of Information and Communications also issued regulations on handling pirated printing, publishing, and distributing illegal books, and strictly controlling content. Building a culture of condemning the purchase of pirated books, printing that violates copyright, building a culture of buying books, and a culture of giving books are also things to note.
“We must gradually consider publishing as a technology-based economy. We must develop measurement tools and ranking criteria to evaluate books, publishers, bookstores, and ecological units in the publishing industry. We also need to be cautious with digital transformation projects, focusing on investing in technological solutions to manage copyrights, and encouraging the development of lean books in many fields,” said Nguyen Thanh Lam.
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Mr. Tran Thanh Lam - Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department. Photo: Thuy Trang |
Mr. Tran Thanh Lam - Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, in his speech at the conference, emphasized electronic publishing and digital transformation in the past year.
“We have been struggling with the concept of e-publishing for the past few years, but the direction from superiors has inspired and instilled determination for publishers to carry out their tasks well. This field has flourished and has products. During the pandemic, we have innovated, created, and made breakthroughs. Our e-books have many readers, reaching everyone, reaching all regions. Those are the advantages of e-publishing, a relatively bold highlight of the industry,” said the Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department.
He also commented that the leadership of the competent authorities has been well implemented, helping publishers to perform their tasks well, and there have been many innovations in direction and management despite the difficult conditions when going through the pandemic. The publishing industry has achieved its current development thanks to the quality of its staff and human resources, ensuring the requirements.
However, there are still some limitations such as laxity, not paying attention to the orientation of the content of the topic... In 2023, the publishing industry will continue to develop the industry well in the direction of streamlining, building culture, and creating many meaningful products.