Lilia Bolocan, director of the State Agency on Intellectual Property, has dismissed the accusations made against her by the National Association Copyright. She told a press briefing that the criticism against her and the Agency have intensified lately in direct connection with the current political developments.
According to Lilia Bolocan, Copyright members hope to exploit the new government in the belief that “replacing the AGEPI director will also remove the last barrier to their narrow business interests.”
Lilia Bolocan says she is being attacked for merely trying to find out how much money exactly copyright holders make off of reproduction equipment importers in compensatory fees. Bolocan guesses it’s “in the order of millions”.
Bolocan’s removal as AGEPI director has been requested after she proposed to “balance” the size of the compensatory fee from 3% to 1%. She also proposed that managing associations like the Copyright Association keep 20% of the collected fees, instead of the current 40%, with the rest to be distributed among copyright holders. The Copyright Association, which claims to have over 10,000 members, has accused Bolocan of taking the side of equipment manufacturers and importers.
