VietNamNet Bridge - A local karaoke player producer has asked law enforcement agencies to take measures against record producers and other karaoke player producers it said were using copyrighted midi songs.   

Ho Chi Minh City-based Phu Nhuan Services Joint-stock Company (Maseco) also commissioned Dai Viet Luat Law Firm to write to those companies, asking them to stop the violations and return all the related records.

According to Maseco, the companies were using around 3,000 midi songs that it had registered with the Copyright Office at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism under the brand Maseco Midi Vision since 2004.

A source told Thanh Nien that ten companies are involved in the case, including two members of the Recording Industry Association of Vietnam – Dong Hai Trades and Services Company and Ben Thanh Audio Company, which produce karaoke DVDs.

They have to pay around VND2 million (US$112.07) to musicians to remix the songs, said a representative from Maseco, adding that the firm had invested in a studio and had even paid some musicians monthly salaries to write songs exclusively for the company.

Lawyer Dinh Quoc Tuan, director of Dai Luat Viet, said some of the companies produced karaoke records with 3,000 songs, including over 2,000 songs under Maseco’s copyright.

Exclusive Maseco songs had also been copied without the company’s consent, he said.

On the other hand, Do Anh Tuyet, vice director of Dong Hai Company, said she was quite surprised to receive the letter. She said no one ever registered copyrights for remixed song.

“It’s a bit rushed to say we are breaching their copyright, as no related agency has issued any conclusion,” Tuyet said.

Huynh Tiet, director of Ben Thanh Audio, meanwhile, accused Maseco of using some of their exclusive songs to produce midi songs.

“Whether or not Maseco has registered its copyright over the song will be made clear later [at a meeting this week],” Tiet said, noting a midi song for karaoke players is often produced by computer software, not by musicians.

VietNamNet/Thanh Nien