Copyright infringement is rampant in the digital environment: Lost revenue, diminished reputation

Violations are happening every day, every hour.

In just the past few years, cross-border platforms have simultaneously launched new applications, notably Tiktok, which creates short video clips that are attracting a large number of users, who are also, in some ways, readers of the press, and copyright infringement has shifted to a new form that, according to many experts, seems to be much more serious.

A series of video clips, images, and sounds with information cut, copied, distorted, and false information, not only cause great economic loss for copyright holders but also affect the reputation of many official press agencies.

In 2022, according to research by Media Partners Asia, Vietnam ranked 3rd in the region, after Indonesia and the Philippines, in terms of copyright infringement rate in the digital space, but per capita, Vietnam ranked 1st with about 15.5 million illegal viewers. The situation of organizations and individuals violating press copyright is quite serious, especially for television organizations.

A video on a fake VTV1 YouTube channel with over 2.7M views.

Regarding the current state of copyright infringement by Vietnam Television (VTV), Mr. Nguyen Thanh Van - Deputy Head of the Inspection Department, VTV said that many units use VTV's television programs without permission or agreement. When broadcasting VTV's programs, many places arbitrarily cut advertisements or inserted their own advertisements. VTV had to pay extremely expensive copyright and production costs for outstanding television programs such as The Voice, Do Re Mi, Gap Nhau Cuoi Nam..., but they were copied and broadcast widely on the Internet and even printed into tapes and discs for sale on the market.

"Some television agencies record the station's programs, especially entertainment programs on VTV3 channel, to rebroadcast on their channels. Many programs cost a large amount of money to buy copyright, especially on the Pay TV system, but are recorded by some individuals and other broadcasting organizations to broadcast without paying copyright fees. In the Internet field, copyright infringement of VTV programs is very serious," Mr. Nguyen Thanh Van stated.

According to Mr. Van, game shows, sports programs, and TV series are becoming "victims" of copyright infringement in the digital environment. Accordingly, TV series are being torn into small pieces, cut into pieces, and accompanied by shocking notes to attract views. Currently, there are about 200 websites showing pirated movies, with hundreds of millions of views each year, illegally profiting hundreds of billions of VND from advertising money. To deal with state management agencies, criminals are constantly coming up with new ways to steal copyrights such as livestreaming, streaming, and the latest form is movie reviews.

In the field of sports, all sports tournaments in the world can be illegally viewed through nearly a hundred pirated websites. In the first quarter of 2023, the English Premier League alone had more than 4 million illegal views in Vietnam. Mr. Van said: "A bold form that has appeared in recent days is that criminals also attack the websites of state agencies to connect to football betting sites."

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Van - Deputy Head of the Inspection Department, Vietnam Television Station said that content violations in the digital environment not only cause serious material damage, but also affect the reputation and brand of the Station. (Photo: Son Hai)

Data from Kantar Media Vietnam Company shows a paradox: It is expected that in 2023, the advertising "pie" in the Vietnamese market for press agencies will be only about 3,000 billion VND. Revenue related to exploiting press content such as advertising is "flowing" to websites, electronic pages, and social network accounts that copy press products with a value of about 80,000 billion VND. Many individuals and organizations have taken advantage of social networking platforms and video applications to widely use press information and products to then profit from advertising.

"VTV's content is pirated and illegally posted by many video viewing sites every day and every hour. Individuals who make clips insert VTV's logo and video content to create trust, advertise traditional medicine and betting applications, not only causing heavy material damage, but also affecting the reputation and brand of the station. VTV has been refused to negotiate transfers by partners who own the copyright to broadcast attractive entertainment and sports programs because they cannot effectively prevent copyright infringement," Mr. Van emphasized.

Handling violations is not strict enough

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Van, the situation of organizations and individuals violating press copyright is serious, especially for television organizations. However, the handling of violations is not strict and comprehensive enough.

This requires VTV in particular and press agencies in general to proactively invest in modern scanning tools and build a team of highly specialized and experienced personnel in the field of intellectual property. At the same time, it requires strict handling from State management agencies and efforts from Internet service providers.

In terms of law, journalist Nguyen Duc Hien - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper said that the current fine for copyright infringement is very low, not enough to deter, and it is necessary to amend the regulations in the direction of increasing the administrative fine for copyright infringement to increase deterrence against copyright infringement.

Taking advantage of VTV's reputation and brand, the clip inserts VTV's logo and video content to create trust, advertise oriental medicine and betting applications.

Specifically, journalist Nguyen Duc Hien cited that according to Decree No. 131/2013 regulating administrative sanctions for violations of copyright and related rights, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 28/2017, acts of violating the right to protect the integrity of works are only subject to a fine of 3-10 million VND. Acts of violating the right to publish works without the permission of the copyright owner as prescribed are only subject to a fine of 5-10 million VND. Acts of distributing works without the permission of the copyright owner are only subject to a fine of 10-30 million VND.

Or according to Decree 119/2020, a general electronic information site that posts or broadcasts journalistic, literary, artistic, and publication works without the consent of the intellectual property owner will only be fined from 10 to 20 million VND.

"These are insignificant numbers, the current fines are very low. I think that if they are increased 3, 5 times or even 10 times, it will have a stronger deterrent effect on organizations and individuals who violate the law," said journalist Nguyen Duc Hien.

According to Mr. Hien, one thing that prevents press agencies from exercising their right to protect themselves is that, to punish violators, they must sue, denounce and prove. And that journey sometimes takes much more time and money than the compensation they can receive. Many press agencies currently stop at either ignoring it, or calling the copyright infringer to request that the content be removed, or the author is a reporter complaining on Facebook.

"If we sue for a violation now, instead of a fine of 30 million VND, the fine is increased to 500 million VND, then certainly even if the management agencies have not yet intervened, as long as our lawyers work with the other side's lawyers, they will have to negotiate to have the agreed compensation level and they will not dare to violate the agreement," Mr. Hien raised the issue.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hien commented that the fine is too low, making the victim feel "not worth it". It creates the feeling for both the aggressor and the victim that it is not a big deal. Over time, illegal and uncivilized behavior is considered normal. Not to mention, with works that are "brutally" abused by many subjects, the press agency is completely incapable of fighting and defending itself.

Determining damages caused by copyright infringement in the digital environment is extremely difficult.

According to lawyer Tran Thi Khanh Huong, Director of Hanoi Legal - Media Law Company Limited, with the development of science and technology opening up many new opportunities in the way of expressing, communicating, distributing and enjoying works, acts of copyright infringement are therefore becoming more sophisticated and diverse, not only acts of direct copyright infringement but also indirect acts that create the premise for copyright infringement.

Ms. Tran Thi Khanh Huong said that when the copyright of the press is violated, depending on the level of violation and the consequences of the violation, the violated individuals and organizations have the right to choose the appropriate measures to protect their copyright. They can use civil measures themselves - by self-negotiation, or through the competent authority, propose to apply criminal measures and administrative measures to handle the violation depending on the level of the violation.

Lawyer Tran Thi Khanh Huong, Director of Hanoi Legal - Media Law Company Limited. (Photo: ICT)

Compensation for damages is a form of civil liability that forces the party causing the damage to remedy the consequences by compensating for material and mental losses to the damaged party.

"However, determining the level of damage in the field of intellectual property is always a difficult problem in practice, and determining the damage caused by copyright infringement in the Internet environment is even more difficult," said lawyer Tran Thi Khanh Huong.

Ms. Tran Thi Khanh Huong cited, for example, the case of a journalistic work that is stored and allowed to be accessed illegally on the Internet, it is possible to use technical tools to count how many times people access or download that work illegally on a specific website. In this case, if it is assumed that online viewing or downloading of that work is predetermined for each access, it is possible to calculate the preliminary damage that the copyright owner actually loses.

However, the problem is that in many cases, works are illegally copied from a website, then continued to be posted on other websites or shared by individuals. "It is very difficult to control the number of unauthorized visitors in the above cases. The basis for assessing the decline in income, profits, and loss of business opportunities in the field of copyright is also particularly difficult - because the use of works depends a lot on factors, public psychology, and public demand," said Ms. Huong.

According to lawyer Huong, civil law and intellectual property law have provisions on compensation for damages when copyright of the press is violated, which is the basis for the subjects to have the right to use as a basis to negotiate or request competent authorities to propose the level of compensation liability, while also upholding the spirit of the rule of law.

Phan Hoa Giang

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tran-lan-vi-pham-ban-quyen-tren-moi-truong-so-that-thoat-doanh-thu-uy-tin-giam-sut-post266006.html