Implementing Decision No. 2962/QD-BVHTTDL dated 11/410/2023 of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, dated 22/11/2023, within the framework of the 23rd Vietnam Film Festival in Da Lat city, Lam Dong province, the Copyright Office, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with the Department of Culture, Lam Dong Sports and Tourism organized the seminar “Copyright protection in the development of the film industry” in Da Lat city, Lam Dong province.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet emphasized: “Copyright protection in the development of the film industry has been gradually affirming its position and important role, contributing to accelerating economic development, culture and society of nations. In Vietnam, the film industry in the period from 2018 to 2022 has tended to grow strongly, the average production value increased by 8.03% / year, the added value contributed to the economy increased by 7.94% / year, along with labor resources increased by 8.05% and the number of economic establishments operating in the film sector increased by 8.39%. Cinema revenue in 2019 reached over VND 4.1 trillion (about USD 178 million), Vietnamese movies accounted for about 29% of revenue with about VND 1.15 trillion (USD 50 million); this is the year Vietnamese cinema revenue exceeded 16% of the target set in Decision No. 1755/QD-TTg.” With the continuous development of science and technology, digital in the new phase is posing many challenges in protecting the rights of subjects and activities of regulatory agencies.

Welcoming the workshop, Mr. Pham S, Vice Chairman of Lam Dong People’s Committee affirmed: “Lam Dong province is honored to be selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organize the XXIII Vietnam Film Festival as well as organize the seminar “Copyright protection in the development of the film industry”, This is an important program for us to discuss difficult issues and problems and propose solutions to solve copyright protection in the development of the domestic film industry. In the coming time, Lam Dong province will continue to accompany the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and units of the Ministry to propose and complete regulations to ensure the cultural industry in general and the film industry develop sustainably, modernly and effectively, in line with current trends, thereby contributing positively to socio-economic development”. Mr. Pham S, said: Through activities at the film festival, it is an opportunity for Lam Dong province to continue affirming as an ideal destination, attracting more delegations and filmmakers to perform film, television, advertising, music …, contributing to promoting the image of the land, the people of Lam Dong through cinematic works.

Sending a message to the workshop, Ms. Sylvie Forbin, Deputy General Director of Copyright and Creative Industries, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said: In order for the audiovisual sector to become an industry, serious efforts are needed. The success of a film is unpredictable. However, to make a film, financial support from public or private sources is always required. For those investments to pay off, beyond traditional means: Cinemas and broadcasts, new types such as video-on-demand and streaming platforms are becoming increasingly important. These new media channels make it easier for the film to be screened nationally as well as internationally. But for this to be sustainable and for cinema to become a real industry, having a favourable regulatory framework is paramount. To do that, it is necessary to define the value chain and rights between all parties involved in the film production process.

Ms. Sylvie Forbin said that Vietnam is actively participating in multilateral treaties on copyright and related rights managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization. “We stand ready to support you in implementing these treaties so that they bring real benefits to the country. In this vein, I would like to emphasize the importance and usefulness of the Beijing WIPO Treaty on Audiovisual Performance, which is part of WIPO’s Internet treaties, can provide mechanisms for protecting the rights of performers in their audiovisual performances and the important role of such treaties in promoting and protecting them. guarding the film industry, especially in the digital environment. We look forward to Vietnam’s accession to the Treaty soon so that authors, performers and other stakeholders in the Vietnamese film industry can be protected not only in Vietnam but also in the global market. I hope that this event will focus on how copyright and related rights provide incentives for creators, licensing mechanisms for using intellectual property, and strengthening the market system to build a thriving, thriving film industry,” said Sylvie Forbin.

Speaking at the workshop, Ms. Pham Thi Kim Oanh, Deputy Director General of the Copyright Office said that along with the development of technology, acts of copyright infringement of cinematographic works are becoming more sophisticated. Some individuals and organizations have copied, exploited, used, screened and communicated cinematographic works to the public without permission of rights holders and advertised unauthorized products and services on copyrighted films for illicit profits. Accordingly, Ms. Pham Thi Kim Oanh said that individuals and organizations can apply copyright protection measures to cinematographic works in cyberspace as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 198 of the IP Law to protect their intellectual property rights.

Ms. Pham Thi Kim Oanh also said that according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 114 of Decree No. 17/2023/ND-CP stipulating a separate mechanism, which requires right holders to actively provide documents and evidences as prescribed to intermediary enterprises at least 24 hours before livestreaming to prevent, prevent acts of infringement of copyright and related rights in the network environment. This mechanism is a new content of the law on copyright, demonstrating an effective and feasible innovative policy on copyright protection in cyberspace, with the nature of a temporary emergency measure, is a solution to limit possible damages of rights holders and investors when cinematographic works are illegally communicated online.

At the workshop, film director and producer Luong Dinh Dung raised the issue of films being pirated and distributed in the online environment, but there was no solution to severely punish individuals and websites that commit this act. According to Mr. Dung, this issue needs to be focused on solving to create a strong cinema environment in the country. In addition, a Cinematographic work can also be infringed with words, indiscriminate praise and lack of basis to cause economic losses to the work or author, but there is no sanction. This situation also causes difficulties for emerging or new filmmakers.

Speaking at the workshop, Film Director and Producer Vo Thanh Hoa said Vietnam’s film industry is going through a promising stage of development, with many opportunities and room for progress. However, one of the issues that negatively affects Vietnamese cinema in particular and entertainment in general is piracy. These violations severely affected the film crew, causing a significant loss of revenue to the film industry. Director Vo Thanh Hoa said: “If you search for the movie Super Donkey meets Super Swamp, we will see hundreds of video clips appearing, we cannot report and prevent them all. Therefore, tackling piracy needs to come from the viewer’s direction rather than the filmmaker’s direction.” Mr. Vo Thanh Hoa proposed that there should be new, stronger and more definitive policies for individual infringers, requiring closer cooperation between state agencies and copyright owners. At the same time, the application of AI in the process of “controlling” copyright is also extremely important, especially in the current digital age.

With an increasingly vast content distribution environment and the issue of digital content piracy, especially the film industry, becoming increasingly complex, facing diverse digital threats is a problem that will exist in the digital environment. In order to deal with these diverse threats, in addition to operating and management policies, technology factors will also play a very important role. Facing this fact, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Han – General Director of Capital Multimedia Joint Stock Company shared that on the internet environment, works must be protected before publishing on the internet.

At the seminar, Capital Multimedia introduced Sigma DRM copyright protection solution and Sigma Audio Watermark copyright marking solution are solutions developed by the domestic team to help manufacturers proactively connect and protect cinematic works.

According to Mr. Han, Sigma DRM and Sigma Audio Watermark solutions will create the best protection not only in the field of movies but also in the field of OTT TV, music, online education… The solution will help prevent stolen television airwaves, unauthorized transmission on the internet and private content stolen for nefarious and illegal purposes affecting the owner.

Especially in this workshop, Multimeida Capital wishes to cooperate and provide solutions to help protect copyrights for film studios and online distributors before being published on the internet.

Chairman of the Vietnam Cinematography Association Do Order Hung Tu attracted attention at the workshop when he addressed outstanding issues of copyright protection of cinematographic works today. For example, the use of images of documentaries already available in cyberspace is included in the work, but only a short line of film recording using colleague material without directly asking the author’s permission. “It’s a very painful piracy situation. Before putting it into the film, the filmmakers must ask for permission, clearly annotate the materials taken from which colleagues, which films. That is the necessary respect for copyright issues in cinema”, Mr. Do Order Hung Tu emphasized.

Talking about the serious harm of piracy in Vietnam, Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan – Vice Chairman of the Central Council for Critical Theory of Literature and Arts – Chairman of the Vietnam Film Development Promotion Association revealed that “some big studios in Hollywood like Walt Disney are keen to have production representatives in Vietnam, But seeing the copyright infringement at the top, he hesitated to enter. Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan also emphasized: “In the construction of the film industry, in my opinion, the issue of copyright protection is always very important.”

The seminar “Copyright protection in the development of the film industry” in the series of the XXIII Vietnam Film Festival is an opportunity for copyright management and enforcement agencies to continue listening to the wishes and aspirations of creators of cinematographic works, , representatives of agencies, etc relevant departments and associations to continue proposing the improvement of laws and policies to support and create motivation for the development of copyright protection, innovation, creativity and development activities of the film industry. Since then, it will contribute to raising awareness and sense of observance of copyright laws, promoting creative activities, protecting creative achievements and developing cultural industries in general and the film industry in particular in the spirit of Decision No. 1755/QD-TTg dated September 8, 2016 of the Prime Minister on approving the Industry Development Strategy Vietnam’s cultural industry, aiming to build a healthy and competitive cultural industry by 2030, contributing about 7% of the country’s GDP .

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