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Taiwanese firms receive updates on IP regulations
Hundreds of Taiwanese companies doing business in Viet Nam received the latest legal and regulatory updates pertaining to software ownership in a workshop held recently in Ha Noi.
The workshop, entitled "Better competitiveness through compliance with Viet Nam IP laws and related legislation", was attended by the Copyright Office of Viet Nam (COV), Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in Viet Nam.
The information is expected to help Taiwanese companies avoid any legal or regulatory conflicts that could arise due to lack of awareness.
Addressing the workshop, Director General of the Viet Nam Copyright Office Vu Manh Chu provided an update of the current regulatory framework and walked the participants through existing laws and regulations on copyrights and related rights in Viet Nam to provide Taiwanese companies active in the country with detailed information on the topic.
"Use of illegal software by businesses may result in criminal charges and severe legal punishments," said Chu.
In addition, copyright owners are also entitled to pursue other means to address infringements of their intellectual property rights, including filing complaints at the relevant court of law in line with Article 198.1d of the Intellectual Property Law and/or requesting the court to order the offenders to stop their misconduct, formally apologise and initiate remedial measures. They may also seek to demand the offenders to compensate for any damages caused, including material losses, and pay court fees in line with Articles 202, 204 and 205 of the Intellectual Property Law.
"The degree of damage is determined based on the actual losses to the intellectual property rights owner that were directly caused by the intellectual property right encroachment," stressed Chu.
At the workshop, BSA and its members including Lac Viet Computing Co, Bkis, PCT, Microsoft, Open Computing Alliance and Lac Viet also advised on effective software ownership solutions.
BSA representative Dao Anh Tuan informed participants that the Asia-Pacific region recorded a software piracy rate of 60 per cent in 2010 as reported in the International Data Corporation's Global Software Piracy Study. This translates into a commercial value of US$18.7 billion in pirated software.
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