Tbilisi: In connection with the reform of the collective management of copyright and related rights in Georgia, a working meeting was held under the joint organization of the Culture Committee, “Sakpatent”, USAID and the Commercial Law Development Program of the US Department of Commerce – CLDP.
At the meeting, they listened to the recommendations prepared by CLDP and discussed the amendments to the Georgian law “On copyright and related rights”.
The Committee of Culture plans to initiate the project of legislative changes in the spring session of the current year. According to the first deputy chairman of the committee, Irakli Mezurnishvili, many authors have applied to the committee to solve the mentioned problem.
“Parliament has been working on the issue of copyright and related rights for a long time. I would like to thank USAID and CLDP, who are actively involved in this process and funded the research. Now we are moving to the final phase when we have to agree on how to solve this problem. The culture committee and the parliament as a whole declare their readiness for the legislative change”, said Irakli Mezurnishvili.
According to him, it is important to learn about the experience of EU countries; however, it is necessary to create an individual Georgian model that will be adjusted to the reality of our country.
According to the head of the working group, Baia Kvitsiani, based on CLDP’s recommendations, amendments to the law on copyright and related rights will be developed during the three-day workshops.
“Probably, we will adopt the law before the end of the spring session,” said Baya Kvitsian. As Michael Coffield, commercial law advisor of the US Department of Commerce noted, the purpose of the event was to present the recommendations that were prepared to improve copyright in Georgia.
“We know that we are dealing with creative people, authors whose creations should be protected, and their copyrights should be inviolable. The issue is also related to the economic moment because a person who writes and works creatively must be fully satisfied in terms of remuneration. The recommendations we have developed are based on the experience of different countries. Accordingly, we will see how they will adapt to the local legal or creative ground”, said Michael Cofield.
Members of the Parliament, Court of Appeals, judges, heads of ” Sakpatent ” and Higher School of Justice, representatives and experts of USAID economic security and economic governance programs, and EU-Georgia Joint Project on Intellectual Property (EUGIPP) participate in the workshop.
Among the international thematic organizations participating in the process of developing the reform are the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), the Council of Collectively Governing Organizations of Performers’ Rights (SCARP), the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations ( IFRRO) representatives.
The working meeting is three days long and will end on January 27.
