Experts criticise Copyright Act

       Law experts object to the idea of penalising buyers of illegal copyright products to solve piracy, pointing out that no other country has a similar law. Meanwhile, the commerce ministry will find ways to fill loopholes in the Copyright Act after the cabinet added the specific clause for landlord liability earlier this month.
       Dhiraphol Suwanprateep, a partner at Baker & Mckenzie Global Services,strongly disagrees with the government's proposed Copyright Act which will set a fine for buyers and processors of counterfeit goods, including computer software, music and movies, because it may open opportunities for abuse of power as well as create problems in enforcing the law.
       Dhiraphol said that no countries have such a law. Even France and Italy have laws for consumers who use illegal trademarked products but these are covered by customs legislation. Furthermore, Thai customs law already has authority to enforce the import or export of illegal copyrighted and trademarked products.
       Landlord-liability will help to solve the piracy problem because under the rental contract the owners have the right to revoke contracts if the rental merchant sells illegal products. But there still lots of illegal copyright products sold in many areas.
       Paiboon Amonpinyokeat, managing partner at P & P Law Firm and Special Lecturer of Internet Law at Chulalongkorn University, also observed that there are rarely any such laws which penalise buyers of illegal products - even in EU states and the US which dominate in IT, or in Asian nations like Japan,Korea and China which are strong in entertainment.
       If there is buyer penalty it will conflict with fair use in copyright law that allows individual use by private users without affecting the copyright holders. Fair use is one way to allow users to make reverse engineering or apply creativity.If the law is too strict it will lead to a monopoly.
       The data traffic provider liability in the draft is also too broad because it means every piece of data that is sent by using illegal software will come under this law but in reality the data is sent by the computer or other device.
       "I think the government intends to tackle Internet service providers or web hosting that has Bittorrent or other file sharing program so the government should apply the Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems that cover using technological measures that effectively protects the right of a copyright owner," Paiboon said.
       Pajchima Tanasanti, deputy director general of the Department of Intellectual Property under the commerce ministry, said after cabinet rejected the draft Trademark Act and Copyright Act which sets out the liability and penalty for buyers and landlords related to illegal products, the minister will add ministerial regulations aligned with the draft amendment of the Copyright Act to specified targeted zones like Pantip Plaza or computer centres.
       This will help to solve concerns in the draft legislation that commercialbuilding owners and landlords would face fines ranging from 30,000 baht to 300,000 baht which was criticised because it may affect government agencies liability which is open for small individuals to rent space in the open market and they may sell illegal copyrighted products.
       Moreover, in the part that mentions data traffic provider which should have liability and be penalised if they know or acknowledge any violation of copyright or duplicate original copyright under their services.
       "We intend to cover Internet service providers but we have to consider data traffic which is too broad," said Pajchima.
       Meanwhile Varunee Ratchatapattanakul Consultant, Thailand Committee at Business Software Allaiance (BSA),said that the BSA appreciates the government's attempts to amend the present copyright act to expand the scope of copyright protection and their efforts to ensure that the copyright act, as amended, will be practically and effectively enforced to result in justice for every party concerned.
       It is also important to note that the copyright act, as amended, would have the potential to enhance consumer protection from the sales of fraudulent products.
       Rebecca Ho, Microsoft spokesperson for intellectual property enforcement in Thailand, said as a company at the forefront of ICT innovation and one of the world's largest investors in innovation, Microsoft supported the continued reform and enforcement of intellectual property laws.
       "Piracy is not just an issue for foreign innovators and creators but also for the burgeoning Thai film and software industries," Ho said
       "We are encouraged by the continued enforcement of existing laws and the reform of legislation for stronger penalties against violators. These efforts will help the country's drive to develop a 'creative economy'."
       Wisanu Wangwisut, managing director of the IT computer centre at Thippatana Arcade which operates Pantip Plaza computer centre, said if the government specifically restrict zones or special zone in landlordliability this way will not result in fair treatment.