Berne copyright convention comes into effect in VN
Beginning on October 26, foreign books translated into Vietnamese might be more difficult to find in bookstores throughout the country as the Berne Convention becomes effective in Viet Nam.
Viet Nam has officially become the 156th member of the international treaty on the protection of copyrights in literature, science and arts publication.
Under the convention, Viet Nam has to respect and protect the copyright reservations for works of literature, arts and science from 155 other member nations and in return, its works will be protected in those countries as well.
Most of the relevant agencies worry about how to legally implement the Berne Convention.
According to Nguyen Phan Hach, director of the Viet Nam Writers Association’s Publishing House, his company has temporarily stopped permitting the translation works except those whose copyright protection period has already ended.
"In fact, most of the publishing houses do not understand the Berne Convention thoroughly. We need to be equipped with the documents by the Copyright Department to instruct us on the Berne Convention’s implementation in Viet Nam," Hach said.
According to Vu Manh Chu, director of the Copyright Department under the Ministry of Culture and Information (MCI), the guides have been submitted to the MCI and they are waiting for a reply.
Most publishing houses understand that the literary works will become public property after 50 years of protection and those which are still in the protection period need the author’s permission.
However, they still don’t understand many other aspects of the Berne Convention such as the rights for copy, republication, editing, and work display. Many translators said that the lack of knowledge will easily lead to unintentional violation.
This is the first international agreement on the issue that Viet Nam has signed to date, aside from the other two similar bilateral agreements with the US and Switzerland in 1999.
Copyright protection is still new and remains a difficult mission in Viet Nam.
The Viet Nam Writers Association will debut its Literature Copyright Protection Centre on November 2 with the hopes to protect Vietnamese literature. — VNS
