The singers and songwriters that form the National Association “Copyright” called a press conference today to publicly ask prime minister Maia Sandu to fire Lilia Bolocan from the post of director of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) and thus “free (them) from the vicious circle of corruption”.

Composer Leon Știrbu read out a statement accusing Lilia Bolocan of acting “manifestly against the interest of songwriters, singers and other copyright holders”. “This runs against the AGEPI’s function of protecting intellectual property as required by law”.

In particular, “Copyright” accuses Bolocan of pressuring it to drop a lawsuit against a company that failed to pay royalties. After the Association refused, Bolocan allegedly retaliated by stripping it of the right to collect compensatory fees from manufacturers or importers of equipment or media used for reproducing legally published records.

As a result, Copyright members are asking the government to replace Lilia Bolocan “with a professional who can bring AGEPI’s activity back to a legal and professional framework that works in the interest of copyright holders”.

The National Association “Copyright” incorporated as an NGO in 2004 and claims to have over 10,000 members at present.