On the morning of October 18 in Hanoi, the Copyright Office of Vietnam held a workshop on copyright in teaching and scientific research activities. The workshop took place in person and online. The workshop attracted more than 600 delegates from 160 universities of 40 provinces and cities across the country.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Ms. Pham Thi Kim Oanh, Deputy General Director of the Copyright Office of Vietnam, affirmed that intellectual property rights in general, copyright and related rights in particular have been playing an important role in the development of the knowledge economy and international economic integration.

Ms. Pham Thi Kim Oanh, Deputy Director of the Copyright Office delivered the opening speech of the Workshop

According to Ms. Pham Thi Kim Oanh, over the years, the protection of copyright and related rights has been of special interest to our Party and State. The State manages copyright and related rights protection activities through various management tools, of which law is considered the most important management tool. Vietnam has been actively and actively integrating internationally, including in the field of copyright and related rights. Up to now, Vietnam has participated in 8 out of 9 multilateral international treaties on copyright and related rights; negotiating and signing 2 bilateral and multilateral economic and free trade agreements with different countries and economic regions in the world with the content of copyright and related rights. The signing and participation in international treaties and trade agreements have brought Vietnam to an equal and mutually beneficial position with countries with developed copyright industries. At the same time, it brings challenges that Vietnam must overcome when implementing commitments in integration.

Deputy General Director Pham Thi Kim Oanh emphasized: “At the same time, in the long term, we need to identify practical issues, development trends of the world, requirements set for the field of copyright and related rights to build and improve the copyright legal system,  related rights are increasingly progressive, creativity is encouraged, transparency and reliability are ensured, copyright and related rights are protected and effectively implemented in scientific teaching and research, in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. In the context of the industrial revolution 4.0 and international integration, many new issues, opportunities and challenges associated with technology and techniques such as blockchain technology, AI, Big Data, etc. is also a common problem for countries in the issue of protecting copyright and related rights, and at the same time must ensure that one of the core contents is the principle of “Balance of interests”, which is designed to protect the right to access and use works of society and the community including teaching and scientific research activities”.

MSc. Pham Thi Mai, Deputy Director of Library Information Center, Hanoi University of Law, spoke at the Workshop

Speaking at the workshop, MSc. Pham Thi Mai, Deputy Director of the Library Information Center, Hanoi University of Law, put forward a number of proposals and recommendations as follows: Firstly, continue to improve detailed regulations and guidelines for copyright enforcement forces. Secondly, continue to raise awareness of the role of implementing legal provisions related to the digital transformation of the library industry. Thirdly, the University, the Center for Information Technology and Libraries well implement contingency measures to ensure that the library server system is not attacked; strengthen the protection of personal devices and accounts when using digital information resources.

Dr. Tran Quang Trung, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law, DTU Da Nang, spoke at the seminar

Suggesting solutions to current copying activities at universities, Master Tran Quang Trung, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law, DTU Da Nang, said that it is necessary to improve the law more clearly and expand the copying rights of students in some specific cases; it is necessary to have more in-depth discussions to determine the level of use of the budget in the work to reconcile the interests of the creator with the needs of the public; have a mechanism for exploiting and using scientific works (theses, dissertations, reference books, etc.). In the face of the rapid development of technology and the need to connect global information, Master Tran Quang Trung said that Vietnam needs to research and apply international experiences to improve legal regulations on copyright, including expanding the scope of protection for works related to artificial intelligence,  clearly define ownership of works created by organizations and individuals, as well as issue specific guidelines on the fair use of works in scientific research. In addition, MSc. Tran Quang Trung also gave his opinion on considering the construction and separation of copyright from intellectual property rights to have clear regulations to avoid confusion.

Speaking about the content of fair use of works, Ms. Do Thi Dien, a lecturer at the University of Law, Hue University, said that according to the provisions of US law, in Article 107, the US Copyright Act stipulates the limitation of monopolies: “fair use of works” has listed four conditions for the Court to determine that an act is fair rational and unreasonable, and the U.S. Congress does not determine which factors are most important: First, the purpose and nature of the use, including whether the use is commercial or solely for non-profit educational purposes; second, the nature of the protected work; third, the quantity and substance of the part used in the work is protected as a whole; Fourth, the effect of such use on market potential or on the value of the protected work. Therefore, when applying these conditions, the Court must also consider the use of all of the above angles fairly. The law recognizes that fair use of a work applies to unpublished works. This regulation is completely different from Vietnamese law, only applying exceptions in the fair use of works to published works.

Ms. Do Thi Dien, lecturer at the University of Law, Hue University, spoke online at the Workshop

Ms. Do Thi Dien emphasized and proposed 3 main solutions to improve the law on exceptions to non-infringement of copyright: first, the law needs to specifically define “must not conflict with the normal exploitation of works” and “not cause unreasonable damage to the legitimate interests of authors;  copyright holder”, and “binding” the provisions on “framed” listing in Articles 25 and 25a of the Intellectual Property Law; Secondly, the law needs to stipulate an accurate interpretation of “reasonableness” to be used for the contents of the Intellectual Property Law. This can be done through a specific definition or criteria for determining “reasonableness” which, according to Ms. Do Thi Dien, should refer to U.S. law – a method that the United States has applied very effectively to determine whether or not there is fair use. That is, to determine “reasonableness”, it is necessary to include: the purpose and nature of the act; the nature of the work; the number and proportion of the works used; the influence of the act on the copyright holder. The identification of these factors should be combined in parallel and applied flexibly in each specific case. Thirdly, the recommendation on the regulation on “fair use” of works under US law applies to exceptions to the use of works under Vietnamese law according to four principles: first, on the “purpose and characteristics of the use of the work”, it should be directed at the transformative use,  that is, aiming to promote creative activities, exploit intellectual products, serve many different purposes of material life; secondly, regarding the “nature of the protected work”, this factor is directly related to whether the work has been published or not; third, “the effect of such use on the market potential or on the value of the protected work”; Fourth: Factors affecting the prestige of individuals, organizations, fairness, social ethics, etc. may be taken into consideration, depending on the Court’s decision on the defendant’s arguments.

Phung Thi Yen, Faculty of Law, Hanoi Foreign Trade University spoke at the seminar

Presenting some experiences for Vietnam through an analysis of copyright protection laws for scientific works of some countries such as the UK or the United States, Dr. Phung Thi Yen, Faculty of Law, Hanoi Foreign Trade University, gave some recommendations as follows: In order to respond to the development trend of digital technology, Vietnam should consider including and recognizing artificial intelligence (AI) factors, specifically in the classification of computer programs,  works that create AI should also be recognized to show the progressive development trend of the law. In addition, Vietnam can refer to the provisions of CDPA 1988 on the issue of the owner of works created in the process of labor to amend and supplement in a stricter, more progressive and comprehensive direction on the issue of identifying the author and copyright owner of the work. Finally, it is necessary to provide general guidance on the specific level of fair use of scientific works in the issue of conditions for copyright protection.

MSc. Ngo Kim Hoang, Former Director of the Library Information Center of Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, spoke online at the seminar

Lawyer Phan Vu Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Intellectual Property Association, Head of Phan Law Vietnam Law Office spoke online at the seminar

At the workshop, the delegates focused on discussing, deepening and proposing and proposing many solutions to improve the law on copyright and related rights in the current new context on a number of main issues such as: the current status of legal provisions, the implementation of the current law on exceptions to non-infringement of copyright, etc  focusing on a number of contents in teaching and scientific research activities; the current situation of management and exploitation of copyright and related rights assets at educational, training and scientific research institutions; international experience in copyright law, related rights and from practical cases related to the application of exceptions to non-infringement of copyright.

At the same time, it clearly states a number of difficulties, obstacles and inadequacies in the legal provisions on exceptions to non-infringement of copyright and in the process of implementation in practice; propose directions, solutions and recommendations to continue to improve legal provisions on exceptions to non-infringement of copyright; strengthen the capacity to manage and exploit copyright and related rights assets in educational, training and scientific research institutions./.

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