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Published on December 20, 2007

Deputy director-general Banyong Limprayoonwong said those who were against the Act's endorsement had totally misunderstood the Act's details.

"Opposition will create problems for the copyright-fee collection system, because now there is no law controlling the collection of fees, which has resulted in many problems in the business," said Banyong.

The department reported it had received 118 complaints about copyright-fee collection in the past four years.

Songwriters and musicians on Tuesday rallied at the Commerce Ministry to protest against the Act before it could receive National Legislative Assembly (NLA) approval, claiming the Act had not created a fair situation for copyright-owners. The NLA has another three days to pass any bill before next Sunday's general election.

Banyong explained the Act was aimed at creating fair practice for copyright-owners, songwriters and copyright-fee collection agencies. The government would gain nothing from the Act, and it also would have no authority to restrict copyright-owners from setting copyright prices.

Under the Act, the copyright-fee collection agency would have to announce a price to the public, while the government would have no authority to intervene in setting the price. The Act would also prevent problems with duplicate copyright-fee collections, as many karaoke shops or copyright users have filed complaints with the government over duplicate fee collections by different agencies.

Sixteen copyright-fee collection agencies operate in Thailand.

He said the opposition might result from copyright-fee collection agencies being afraid they would lose if they had to announce prices to the public.

Karaoke shops would have a choice of agencies where they could buy copyrights.

The draft Act is unlikely to be passed during the NLA's term, because it has announced it would end its term tomorrow, prior to next Sunday's election.

Banyong added that the Act would increase penalties for any illegal use of copyrights for commercial purposes.

Petchanet  Pratruangkrai

 The Nation