VietNamNet Bridge – The Recording Industry Association of Vietnam (RIAV) on Wednesday sent documents to relevant authorities asking for help after reportedly failing to make agreements with two online music websites NTC and 24H on music copyrights.

A young woman listens to songs from the online music website nhaccuatui.com

In its letter of denunciation, the recording association accused the websites http:// nhaccuatui.com of NTC Joint Stock Company and http://nhacvui.vn of 24H Online Adverting Joint Stock Company of violating the copyrights that belong to the association.

The document was sent to the inspectors of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Copyright Office of Vietnam.

Speaking with the Daily, Truong Thi Thu Dung, vice chairwoman of RIAV, said her association had worked with the two companies who had then promised to remove the recordings with the copyrights owned by the association. However, the number of the recordings removed by the enterprises is very small, Dung said, adding nhaccuatui.com only removed 266 out of 2,178 songs and nhacvui.net only removed 10 out of 1,252 songs said to be in violation.

Dung said RIAV had told the two companies to buy the copyrights but the latter refused to do so with many different reasons, including requesting her association to lower the prices and asking for permission to expand the business area for songs with the copyrights belonging to the association.

Failing to persuade these firms after many times pursuing negotiations with them, RIAV has had no other choice but to ask for help from competent authorities to deal with the problem, Dung stressed.

Meanwhile, Nhan The Luan, general director of NTC, rejected the accusations.

Luan told the Daily that RIAV this year had asked for too high prices, doubling the prices in previous year without any reasonable explanations. NTC refused to buy the copyrights sold for the higher-than-expected prices, Luan explained.

NTC already removed all the recordings and has reported the situation to RIAV but the association still accused NTC of violating the copyrights, Luan said, adding his firm now was working with lawyers to soon clarify the case.

RIAV has entrusted VNG Joint Stock Company to look after the copyrights of songs, forcing other online music websites to make direct contact with VNG, said Luan.

“VNG now is operating its own online music website mp3zing.vn competing directly with other websites of the same kind, meaning the company wants to set unreasonable prices so that its rivals will have to consider purchasing the recordings’ copyrights of RIAV,” Luan remarked.

RIAV in November had also sent documents accusing FPT Online, NTC and 24H of violating the copyrights of the recordings it is holding.

* In related news, Lac Viet and Microsoft on Wednesday said that they have taken legal proceedings against Gold Long John Dong Nai Vietnam International Co. Ltd. for using pirated software of the two enterprises.

The 100% Taiwanese-invested firm manufactures canvas to make shoe soles for popular brands such as Nike, Adidas and Converse. It is based in Nhon Trach Industrial Park in Dong Nai Province.

On June 16, law enforcement officers launched an unscheduled inspection into the enterprise, discovering that pirated software of Lac Viet and Microsoft such as Lac Viet dictionary and Window XP operation system were illegally installed in its 69 computers.

The pirated software was estimated to have total value of nearly VND1 billion. During the inspection, the enterprise admitted its violations but has yet to do anything about it.

Speaking at a press briefing in HCMC on Wednesday, Ha Than, general director of Lac Viet, said that Lac Viet and Microsoft have negotiated with Gold Long John Dong Nai on several occasions. However, the enterprise has not cooperated with the software firms and continues to use the illegal software.

Therefore, the two software firms have sent a petition to Dong Nai Province’s People’s Court to ask for compensation. They also requested Gold Long John Dong Nai to offer an apology in the media.

Than of Lac Viet Company also said the Lac Viet dictionary software has been seriously pirated in Vietnam, causing total losses of around US$50 million since 1995.

Tarun Sawney, Business Software Alliance (BSA) senior piracy director for the Asia-Pacific region, said that bringing copyright piracy cases to court is an effective way to fight piracy.

Copyright violations of foreign companies like Gold Long John Dong Nai has made the investment environment of Vietnam become less attractive, raising unhealthy competition among businesses and hindering development of the local information technology industry, he said.

Source: SGT