A draft of the revised law will be sent to the law ministry on Jul 31 for approval, Copyright Board President and Cultural Affairs\ Ministry Additional Secretary Md Mashiur Rahman told bdnews24.com. “But if those who are affected by the law do not follow it, how useful can it be?”Copyrights are currently voluntary and little can be done if musicians, writers and software engineers are not aware of the copyright law, Rahman said. The Copyright Board president added that a paltry number of copyright applications are made each in year in Bangladesh compared to other countries with intellectual property right laws“Bangladesh should be registering more than 15,000 intellectual property right applications a year, but the number of applications is less than 500 and is actually decreasing. Copyright laws aim to protect the ethical and financial rights of creators and can be used in court to settle disputes over ownership in court. Though the application for a copyright only has a Tk 1,600 fee, very few artists and writers use it.

Source: bd News24 July 22, 2017 04:07 UTC