Trouble for performing songs without permission

On the morning of October 26, Mr. Le Van Thuan (residing in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) confirmed that he had just continued to send a petition to the authorities requesting administrative action against Hai Au Hotel (Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh Province). According to him, this hotel organized an art performance but did not notify the competent authority in writing, and did not ask for permission from the copyright owner of the song "Quy Nhon vast nostalgia" as required.

React and... get scolded

Mr. Thuan said the song "Quy Nhon, boundless nostalgia" was composed by musician Ngo Tin (real name Ngo Van Tin, born in 1954, residing in the US) based on the poem by Xuan Thi.

On April 1, 2023, Mr. Thuan signed a contract to purchase the copyright of this song from musician Ngo Tin for a term of 3 years. Immediately after the contract took effect, Mr. Thuan announced on his social media account that he had purchased and held the copyright of this song.

Mr. Le Van Thuan made a record of singer Kieu Le performing the song "Quy Nhon immense nostalgia" in a program that sold tickets at Hai Au hotel without asking permission from the author and copyright holder.

On the night of April 30, 2023, through social networks, Mr. Thuan accidentally discovered that singer Kieu Le (real name Nguyen Thi Kieu Le, residing in Quy Nhon City) performed the song "Quy Nhon immense nostalgia" at the program "Buffet Dinner - Returning to the sea of ​​memories" at Hai Au Hotel. Believing that the song was performed at the program with tickets for sale without the author's permission, Mr. Thuan called Hai Au Hotel to protest.

Mr. Thuan recalled: "When I discovered the incident, I called Mr. Huynh Thanh Hoa, in charge of the program "Buffet Dinner - Returning to the Sea of ​​Memories" of Hai Au Hotel, to question him. My purpose was only to remind him that performing a song in a program that sells tickets for money without asking for the author's permission is against the regulations. However, Mr. Hoa scolded me back, slandering me for "fraudulent extortion", so I was very upset and determined to clarify the matter."

Meanwhile, according to a representative of Hai Au Hotel, on the evening of April 30, 2023, this hotel organized the program "Buffet Dinner - Returning to the sea of ​​memories" with the purpose of honoring and expressing gratitude to customers. At the program, the hotel invited singer Kieu Le to participate and sing at the request of guests. Hai Au Hotel does not organize art performances, so there is no specific song list.

Through that, the representative of Hai Au Hotel admitted shortcomings in the process of organizing the culinary program and seriously learned from experience.

Regarding Mr. Huynh Thanh Hoa's scolding of Mr. Le Van Thuan as a "fraud", the representative of Hai Au Hotel explained that it was due to... a misunderstanding of the call, and did not think that he was the copyright holder of the song "Quy Nhon with endless nostalgia"!

Only administratively punish singers?

After receiving Mr. Le Van Thuan's petition regarding administrative sanctions against Hai Au Hotel, on July 17, the Department of Culture and Sports of Binh Dinh province issued a document announcing the results of the case.

Accordingly, the Department of Culture and Sports of Binh Dinh province believes that organizations and individuals have not provided enough documents and evidence, so the Department Inspectorate does not have enough basis to handle administrative violations against Hai Au Hotel. The Department of Culture and Sports continues to direct the Department Inspectorate to coordinate with relevant units to clarify the time of copyright and works (for the song "Quy Nhon vast nostalgia") to handle violating organizations and individuals (if any) in accordance with the law.

Believing that the Department of Culture and Sports of Binh Dinh province had not resolved the case satisfactorily, Mr. Thuan recently continued to send a petition to the authorities about the Hai Au Hotel organizing an art performance without notifying the competent authority in writing and without asking for permission from the song's copyright owner as prescribed.

Regarding the above incident, Mr. Le Van Thuan and musician Ngo Tin also sent a petition to Binh Dinh Provincial Police, requesting consideration of investigation and criminal prosecution of singer Kieu Le and related people for defamation and insult to their honor and dignity.

Specifically, the author and copyright holder of the song "Quy Nhon endless memories" said that the Facebook accounts of singer Kieu Le and some of her family members posted a lot of false and slanderous information, seriously affecting the honor and dignity of the two people.

Regarding this petition of Mr. Le Van Thuan, on August 9, Binh Dinh Provincial Police announced the results of handling the case. Accordingly, Binh Dinh Provincial Police determined that some information on Facebook of singer Kieu Le did not have enough basis to determine that it was untrue, slandered Mr. Thuan and incited and encouraged copyright infringement.

Based on the collected documents and evidence, Binh Dinh Provincial Police said there was not enough basis to conclude that singer Kieu Le violated criminal law. From there, Binh Dinh Provincial Police issued a decision to administratively handle singer Kieu Le for the act of "providing false information, distorting, slandering, insulting the honor and dignity of an individual" with a fine of 7.5 million VND.

Believing that the above administrative penalty decision was not satisfactory, Mr. Le Van Thuan continued to send a complaint against singer Kieu Le to the competent authorities. The complaint of musician Ngo Tin against singer Kieu Le is still being handled by Binh Dinh Provincial Police.

Exploitation and enforcement of copyright in cyberspace

The workshop "Exploiting and enforcing copyright in cyberspace" organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Copyright Office on October 26 in Ho Chi Minh City raised many alarming issues about copyright today.

In the digital age and the spread of the internet, exploiting music copyright on cyberspace plays an important role in ensuring that music creators are protected and rewarded for their creative efforts. With the development of music streaming platforms and online video sharing websites, music copyright management has become more complicated than ever.

Delegates take souvenir photos at the Workshop "Exploiting and enforcing copyright in cyberspace" in Ho Chi Minh City on October 26.

In the field of cinema, recently, there have been many acts of copyright infringement on the Internet. Some typical acts include: Using cinematographic works to post and communicate to the public without the permission of the owner; copying all or part of, cutting, modifying works; abusing the protection of intellectual property rights through the mechanism of deleting and removing infringing content, causing serious damage to rights holders and creating unfair competition...

Therefore, applying digital technology to monitor, exploit and manage the use of creative works in cyberspace to optimize and bring efficiency in copyright management in the internet environment is necessary. In the context of the music industry, online platforms and streaming services are increasingly developing, applying digital technology is the way to ensure that copyright is protected, copyright income is optimized and creativity is encouraged. Digital technology solutions help create transparency, trust and efficiency in music copyright management.

Currently, the application of automation tools to prevent copyright infringement in cyberspace still faces certain difficulties. "Applying digital technology brings convenience, applying the most modern technologies, but also means having to spend a lot of money to exploit, manage and protect copyright. Applying digital technology also makes it difficult to ensure network security issues such as copyright protection, and does not ensure information security when used" - a representative of the Vietnam Center for Music Copyright Protection worries.

According to experts, the solution to the problem of "exploiting and enforcing copyright in cyberspace" is to perfect the legal framework for the responsibility of intermediary service providers; have a common mechanism or system for handling copyright infringement on platforms owned by intermediary service providers.

For businesses that intend to perform acts to evade obligations or do not strictly comply, there must be strict sanctions with sufficient deterrence. Rights holders also need to proactively find measures to protect themselves. In particular, it is possible to apply available technological solutions of platforms such as YouTube's Content ID, Facebook's Right manager...; apply or develop other platforms to track infringements. If infringements are found, they will be disabled there. To do this, rights holders must personalize information and content before posting and putting them on the digital environment.

Thuy Trang

Source: https://nld.com.vn/van-nghe/rac-roi-vi-bieu-dien-ca-khuc-khong-xin-phep-20231026205701802.htm