Copyright watchdog Recording Association of Vietnam (RIAV) has reportedly filed a $3 million lawsuit against FPT Telecom and Nokia Vietnam for violating intellectual property rights. RIAV, which represents 60 music production companies throughout Vietnam, is suing both companies over allegations of copyright infringement of recorded music.
Earlier this month, RIAV said that it was going to initiate a lawsuit against FPT Telecom for sharing recorded music over the internet via its website, Nhac So, and using copyrighted material on FPT Telecom’s internet television service, IPTV. After a failed attempt for a settlement between the two companies, RIAV also filed a suit against Nokia Vietnam for allowing its customers to download 1,000 copyrighted songs from a 10,466 song database through Nhac So.
Nokia sent a letter to the RIAV last week, pointing its finger at FPT Telecom. According to the company, FPT admitted to them that it may not have the necessary rights for all of the music content on their website, although they had previously confirmed to Nokia that they did have the legal rights for the complete music content on their website.
In response, RIAV said that it recognizes Nokia’s goodwill but affirmed that Nokia is trying to avoid its responsibility.
This suit raises lots of questions. The most important being: If Nokia is distributing music in Vietnam, why is it relying on third-party licensing deals instead of striking global licensing deals itself?
We have an e-mail in with Nokia for more information and will update the post ASAP.
buuuullllll ssshhhhhhhiiiiiiiittttttt
fuck off
Hey, what the f*ck is wrong with you?
To tell the truth, There is no Law about Copyrights in underdeveloped and most of the Asian countries. In Pakistan you can Get windows XP or Vista for just Half a Dollar. Pirated Software are sold on Streets without any danger of Police…
The music copyright is still in the stone-age in Vietnam, so there are no such global deal.
Also the RIVA is just some thing on the paper, they do not have ability to distribute the digital music, so working with FPT is the only choice left for NOKIA. So bad that FPT wasn’t have full-license for all music that they sell.
Actually, RIAV does have the right to grant licenses to Content Providers. RIAV is headed by all the major labels in Vietnam, including Benh Thanh Audio, Saigon Vafaco, Phuong Nam, etc. These majors have all granted RIAV the right to represent their library. Thus, to have a full complete library, Nokia, either, should have worked with RIAV directly or another content provider who has the rights to sublicense to them.
Hey Robin…
I am German and I don’t even like your english
come on…
“Vietnam’s Recording Association of Vietnam (RIAV) has reportedly filed a $3 million lawsuit[...]”
How about:
“THE Recording Association of Vietnam (RIAV) has reportedly filed a $3 million lawsuit[...]”
Simple as that…and much better…
cu
j
Weird, I fixed that before I posted.
lol if you’re in Vietnam you’ll know that everything is going even crazier. There are some rumors that RIAV had some hackers hack into Nokia’s music store on Nhacso.net. Quite interesting thou.
If somebody has “legal music” in Vietnam it probably means they pay for some songs (like 10?), and tell everyone that they are in the process of getting license for the rest (doesn’t come in package). This is also true for nhacso. Quite interesting i’ll meet the ex-founder of nhacso tomorrow
That is true for the publishing side of licensing here in VN…and many companies do this, except for POPS.vn. http://www.banq...view&id=137
who got the rights for the largest library in Vietnam.
Dear Robin,
This is a nice coverage. We’re looking forward to more updates from international perspective.
Regards,
TaiTran
Good morning Vietnam!
Why is Nokia dealing with FPT in the first place? And how come that RIAV won’t win a lawsuite?
Cuz RIAV do not own most of the music copyright. In fact, artists own it directly, and NhacSo (FPT) have signed many contract with those artists. So NhacSo have full legal right to distribute most but not all the music.
RIAV just make a noise by telling everyone that they will file the lawsuit. They did this several times before but withought any success. RIAV is kind of organization that use sue to earn tactics, they do no business but looking around whether there is business deal with music and try to threaten other with lawsuit.
Actually RIAV does represent the marjority of the artists in Vietnam. FPT has already admitted publicly that they were in violation of copyright laws. Any music content in distributor in Vietnam must secure rights form RIAV as well as VCPMC. FPT is in the process of seeking these rights but have not yet entered into an agreement with RIAV or VCPMC.
Only a small number of artists have not signed with RIAV and have ownership of their distribution rights. FPT/Nhacso does not have rights for the majority of their music library.
Although Vietnam is an developing country, there are organizations such as RIAV and POPS.vn (the first music website to offer licensed music) which are trying to support artists’ creativity by respecting intellectual property.
Most if not all music sites in VN violate copyright anyway. I didn’t think nobody would ever attempt take anybody to court.
When I bought my Nokia phone in VN, they copy any song I want ( including English songs) into my memory card for me for free! So is this the “Nokia distribution” they are talking about?
http://www.nett...n/vn/index.aspx >>> UBND TP Hà Nội vừa ban hành quy định mới về thu hồi đất, giao đất, cho thuê đất, chuyển mục đích sử dụng đất để thực hiện dự án đầu tư làm nhà ở tại điểm dân cư nông thôn.
lol if you’re in Vietnam you’ll know that everything is going even crazier. There are some rumors that RIAV had some hackers hack into Nokia’s music store on Nhacso.net. Quite interesting thou.