More Vietnamese publishers heed copyrights

More local publishing houses have started partnering up with foreign counterparts to seek permission to reproduce books in compliance with the Berne Convention, said a top official April 11.
Publishing houses are now taking a more active role in seeking out copyrights to publish books in the Vietnamese language than when the Berne Convention was first applied, said Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Do Quy Doan at a publishing industry meeting in Hanoi Monday.

Vietnam became a participating member of the Berne Convention in October 2004.

In the first quarter of this year, 62 literary books protected by copyrights were legally reproduced in Vietnamese.

The figure is only 88 per cent equivalent to the year before, but still reflects the efforts of local publishers to follow the convention, Mr. Doan said at the meeting, held by the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Central Committee for Ideology and Culture.

A total of 13.84 million book copies were published in the first quarter of this year. The modest number has posed a great challenge for Vietnam’s target of four copies per capita by the end of this year, Mr. Doan remarked.

He also warned publishers of the fact that copyright infringement is still widespread in the country.

Reported by Duc Trung - Translated by T.H.
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 11 April, 2005, 22:52:04 (GMT+7)
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