VietNamNet Bridge – After a year of considerable success in IT and media, Vietnam will now have to face a series of issues, one of which is the software copyright problem.

It wasn’t a coincidence that one of the 10 most important IT and media events chosen by Vietnam IT Reporters’ Club was Microsoft’s starting to “harvest” revenues in Vietnam. This is a good sign to copyright owners of course. Yet, at the same time, it signals the large amount of money Vietnamese computer users will have to pay for copyrights in the coming years.

In Vietnam, there are currently several million PCs in use, and 1.2 million new PCs are estimated to be sold in 2007. If the annual market growth is 25%, within 5 years from now, Vietnam will have to pay for software copyrights for about 6 million PCs.

If office software such as Windows and Office is used, the total amount for 6 million PCs will be 3 billion USD (600 million x 500 USD). And the government may have to pay about 1 billion USD to buy software copyrights for its 2 million employees.

Though copyright sale isn’t very common on the Vietnamese market, at the end of 2006, several major state-owned businesses signed copyright contracts with Microsoft. An example was the Ministry of Finance, which bought 15.000 Office software copyrights. Vietnam Commercial Bank (Vietcombank) also signed agreements to have 4.000 permits for Microsoft Office 2003 within 3 years.

Vietnam’s starting to buy software copyrights is indeed a good sign showing that the country is starting to respect WTO rules. The fact that the Ministry of Finance, one of the most important ministries in Vietnam, plays the leading role, also helps to prove to the world that Vietnam intends to make good all of its software copyright pledges to the WTO.

Obeying international intellectual property rights, software copyrights included, must be done. Yet, how Vietnam will pay for these rights is a matter of great anxiety. According to Mr. Nguyen Long, Secretary General of Vietnam Information Association, respecting international treaties on intellectual property rights doesn’t mean that Vietnam has to “buy fast, buy all.” It is important to consider carefully solutions suitable to the conditions of Vietnam.

Mr. Long said, “The Government must lead the country’s efforts by exploring different time frames, choosing multi-technology solutions, avoiding bidding for exclusive rights, and appointing a general negotiating team to avoid the prospect of ministries and departments negotiating separately. The Government can also encourage competition by inviting more producers to participate. There should be strong disciplines for businesses which use government money to buy separately large quantities of copyrights or use software programmes indiscriminately.”

At a national conference on open-source software held in Hanoi at the end of 2006, Vietnam Information Association called for the use and development of domestic products, encouragement of free software with similar functions such as OpenOffice, and application of new technologies such as Web 2.0 which Google, Yahoo, Sun, Oracle are currently using.

The Information Association is also developing an open-source software community model for Vietnam which aims to use domestic products as a means to develop the country. In addition, the association has proposed to establish centres to research and develop open-source software applications and universal training models.

(Source: TBKTVN)