SYMPOSIUM BEGINS ON COPYRIGHT

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, /MONTSAME/ A symposium themed "Copyright and contiguous rights management" started Tuesday in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

Co-organized by the Asia-Pacific Region of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Copyright Department of Japan, and Mongolia's State Intellectual Property Office, the symposium is running with a participation of 35 delegates from 17 countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, Fiji, Sri-Lanka and India. Officials of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) are taking part in the symposium representing Mongolia.

The gathered are sharing views and experiences in the collective management organizations and in dealing with difficulties these organizations are facing.

The symposium was opened by N.Altankhuyag, the First Deputy Premier. Speeches have been given by N.Chinbat, head of the SIPO; Mr. Masayuki Shibata, head of the Copyright Department of Japan; and by Gao Hang, an acting head of the Section for Copyright Development, Culture and Arts of the WIPO.

Organizations of collective management have considerably been developing in developed countries. In Mongolia it started developing from the year 2000. The SIPO's leader Mr. Chinbat said the laws of Mongolia on copyright and contiguous rights have some clauses about the collective management and that organization of such of management has not been developed properly.

Mr. Shibata mentioned that Japan has managed to develop the collective management system for copyright and contiguous rights and expressed a willingness to share experiences with Mongolia.

Mrs. Gao Hang pointed out that the collective management contributes to not only arts and culture, but even to socio-economy.

Mr. Altankhuyag said Mongolia proclaimed in its Constitution in 1992 that intellectual property is a private property and that it is required to refine upon the copyright system in Mongolia in order to support intellectual creative works. He said Mongolia intends to work out a national strategy for intellectual property because innovation and intellectual works play an important role in development of the country.
The symposium will last for two days.

B.Khuder