DEFENDING AUTHOR’S RIGHTS IN ARMENIA

Azg/arm
30 Nov 04

All over the civilized world such terms as copyright and author’s
rights do not sound strange to peoples’ ears. Huge organizations and
companies as well as individuals label their products, create logos
and register them. In order to keep the field of author’s rights
defending under control the NGO of Armenian Author was created.

President of the NGO Sona Vardanian said that the author rights
defending in Armenia dates back to 1933 when Haydramkom, the Armenian
offshoot of the Committee of South Caucasus’ Playwrights and Composers
was created,and that very year the writers and composers were paid for
their author’s rights.The Republic of Armenia passed the law on
“Author’s Rights and Contiguous Rights” only in 2000. Today the
Armenian Author NGO counts 1120 authors among them composers, film
directors, translators, playwrights, sculptors and painters. Having
registered at the NGO they entrust the organization with the right to
use the works. Mrs. Vardanian said that the author has power over all
the rights (for instance, hire the work out, translate it or
broadcast) but one – performing the work in public. Armenian Author is
watching that the authors are accurately paid any time their works are
used by others. A law regulating the size of the royalties was adopted
in 1999. According to the minimal payment fees, the author of a 2-act
play should receive 11 percent and the director 4 percent of the
income. Royalties for a deceased author’s works are paid 50 more years
after his death, but the signature of the author remains under the
work forever.

Mrs. Vardanian thinks that people are reluctant to pay for the
authorâ=80=99s rights. “For instance, a restaurant has to pay only
10.000 AMD annually forcertain author’s songs but they don’t want to
pay even this much”, Sona Vardanian said. Among the wide range of
author’s rights violation Mrs. Vardanian mentioned that latter-day
companies organizing concerts and refusing to pay the authors. They
have to turn to justice seldom. Armenian Author, being memberof Bern
Convention that includes 158 states, supervises the rights of foreign
authors as well.

By Gohar Gevorgian