If I Defend My Rights, I Will Be a ‘Bad Cop’

16:51 – 10.04.10

One of the reasons the copyrights are violated in Armenia is that both
lawyers and authors in the sector work orally, i.e. without contracts.

In a press conference today Susanna Nersisyan, Director of the Center
for Protection of Copyrights, said that everything should be regulated
by contracts. In her words a new law on copyrights together with the
existing one will make all the parties involved sign contracts before
getting involved in such affairs.

She also said that the bill of the new law will soon be discussed in
the parliament, adding that the existing legislation is enough to
reveal violations, which are numerous in Armenia, and define fines for
the perpetrators.
Armenian composer Martin Aharonyan, in turn, said that the bill would
strengthen the protection of author’s copyrights, should it be adopted
in the parliament.

At the same time, according to Aharonyan, there are some strange
trends here in Armenia.
"In this sector the musicians, the performers are in a very close
relation with the organizers … And if I start defending my rights, I
will turn out to be ‘bad cop’," explained Aharonyan.

Another issue for concern in the sector is that the musicians and
authors do not want to be involved in the court proceedings, and that
they need lawyers support in this field.

Aharonyan also said he himself had come across some fake versions of
his own peaces of music oeuvres.

Tert.am