Roadmap for Implementing Copyright Law in Bangladesh: issues and concerns

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In this age of advanced science and technology perhaps most of the discussions in the copyright arena in Bangladesh are now centered on the issue of its effective protections. The citizens of Bangladesh have no doubt much to cherish their own literary, artistic, musical works, contemporary software products and traditional cultural heritages. Typically, these are intangible assets and are products of human creative activities, but unlike real or personal property which is protected by physical security measures like fences and boundary walls, copyright protection is difficult. As for example, just the invention and use of photo-copier machines upset the gentleman agreement between writers and readers and posed significant challenges to the protection of copyright. The increasing use of copyright contents in the internet network makes copyright content easy to copy, imitate and reproduce. Therefore, it is difficult for the creators of copyrighted works to reap full values of their knowledge, creativeness, labor and capital invested. The intensity of copyright infringements and piracy has been rampant in Bangladesh which affects directly to the writers, publishers, musicians, software producers, music and film industries. It is estimated that 92 percent software used in Bangladesh are pirated and in music industry the net loss is $180m (nearly Tk14bn). Therefore implementation of copyright law is a must to provide protections for the creators, innovators and investors of copyrighted works. Without copyright protections creators will be discouraged to contribute to the society. Imagine that our famous writer Humayun Ahmed guarded his scripts in secret so that nobody could to get access to these literary works! Copyright infringeme...

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...tections among the people that such law is for facilitating wider possible access to information and knowledge rather than hindering it. Copyright law in Bangladesh thus ensures public access to copyright works for scientific, educational, cultural and intellectual developments. Secondly, the copyright law of Bangladesh should provide favorable regulatory framework for the ongoing development of creative endeavors in Bangladesh. Copyright law can be used a tool for promoting artistic and intellectual activities, protections of traditional knowledge and cultural heritages. It can be said that Bangladesh is quite new in the IP arena but the people of the country have already shown their commitments and deep concerns regarding the protection of copyright. A comprehensive and systemic implementation plan can accomplish the implementation of copyright law in Bangladesh.

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