The people of art of Moldova say the legislative amendments adopted by Parliament hinder the organizations managing copyright to work normally for the reason that they cannot adjust to the frequent changes of the regulations.
In a news conference at IPN, Viorica Nagacevschi, head of the public association “National Copyright Office”, said the legislative body last yearend requested that every copyright management organization should assess its products and report their market share. In January – March, three of the four copyright management organizations presented the requested reports. Being busy with the compilation of these reports, the organizations had to stop the collection of honorariums for copyright.
Viorica Nagacevschi also said that Parliament amended a relevant bill on the last 100 meters, favoring only one such organization. If this bill is passed, the other three organizations will lose the right to collect honorariums.
The association’s lawyer Alexandru Melnic said the copyright management organizations cannot cope with all the changes made to the legislation. In 2012, it was decided to de-monopolize the sector. There appeared another three organizations besides the one that then had a monopoly. In two years, they developed and managed to implement an appropriate honorarium collection mechanism. However, at the end of 2013, the State Intellectual Propriety Agency abrogated the decision taken one year ago, by which it authorized four organizations to manage copyright and related rights.
Composer Liviu Stirbu, who heads the national association “Copyright” and singers Nelly Ciobanu, who heads the Association of Singers of Moldova, Valy Boghean, Adrian Ursu and Nona Marian told the same news conference that the legislative amendments debated in Parliament hadn’t been discussed with the people of art. They are concerned about the favoring of one organization and suspect that the lawmakers pursue hidden goals.
