VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Literary Copyright Center (VLCC) plans to file a lawsuit against the Education Publishing House for unlicensed use of writers’ and poets’ works in textbooks.

Many authors of literary works have complained that the Education Publishing House (under the Ministry of Education and Training) did not ask them for permission and did not pay royalties for their work used in textbooks for general education.

A VLCC legal representative said on Infonet on February 10 that the necessary documents for the lawsuit had been forwarded to the law office last week. The case will be filed in court soon.

VLCC and the Education Publishing House could not reach any agreement on the royalty payment after negotiations started in May 2014.

“They (the writers and poets) think the publishing house did not pay necessary respect to their works when it did not ask for their permission and did not pay royalties,” the representative said.

He said the negotiations did not succeed because of a disagreement on remuneration.

In principle, the publishing house must not use works without written consent from the works’ owners. However, the publishing house used the work in textbooks published prior to 2014.

Therefore, the only solution now is to bring the case to court which will decide the amount of royalties the publishing house has to pay.

The strong determination by VLCC to take legal proceedings against the publishing house has surprised the authors of the textbooks.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Thuyet, deputy head of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, the Youth and Children, and the chief editor of many textbooks compiled for primary and secondary education, said the Intellectual Property Law does not require education publishing houses to ask for authors’ consent for the use of their work.

He said that he does not know of any country which requires permission. Asking for authors’ permission is not listed as a necessary step in procedures to use literary works in textbooks.

“The choice of literary works used in textbooks for secondary education must be determined by the Ministry of Education and Training. As for primary education, textbook compilers have to find suitable paragraphs to use in thousands of literary works,” he said.

Textbook compilers discuss which works and what paragraphs to use and then report to the appraisal council. It is the council which has the right to decide whether to use the works suggested.

GDVN