AUTHOR'S RIGHTS

From the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the appearance of private commercial points, we all remember numerous shops and ordinary tables placed in public locations and near metro stations covered with various boxes of audio tapes, enticing covers of video tapes with the latest films and home-made copies of books and publications at reasonable prices.

Such products clearly cost much cheaper than those sold in special stores and in high-quality packaging with a variety of brand impressions and holograms. So there are, and have always been, consumers of illicit books, tapes and later CDs. With the arrival of the age of information technology and the availability of compassionate and non-greedy users at multiple sites, the situation has worsened even more. Now, almost any fruit of the creative suffering of a musician, writer and scientist can be purchased online. Needless to say, it is very convenient for the average consumer. After all, not being able to buy expensive new books or collectible discs of favourite performers, you can safely and easily download them from the Internet as the number of such servers is high.

But what about those who are "lucky" to be authors of fashionable works, music CDs or new movies? In the current circumstances, the problem of intellectual property protection is becoming increasingly important. We are talking primarily about creative property - music, literature and cinema.

Perhaps the forerunner of this phenomenon is our past in conditions of total shortages when forbidden literature was reprinted and copied by hand, plates with foreign performers could only obtained under the counter for big money (and copying or recording from a concert was commonplace) and one had to stand in long queues for films. Accustomed to getting everything in this way and to the fact that coveted Western goods came to us through smuggling, and the need for hateful domestic products was met without much difficulty, people got used to the poor quality of intellectual property obtained from third hands in similar ways. This tradition has survived to this day, and in our region almost all and sundry download anything from the web free of charge.

In Soviet times, the concept of "copyright" as such was not observed. Creating a product that was of intellectual and cultural value was based on a rather unequal relationship between the manufacturer and the consumer.

Today, however, we are trying to encourage respect for others' intangible property through the introduction of relevant laws and the establishment of agencies. For example, the law "On Copyright and Related Rights" entered into force in Azerbaijan on 8 October 1996, while the State Copyright Agency of Azerbaijan was established in 2005.

The state agency reports that the copyright protection system in the digital environment will soon be introduced. According to the head of the agency, Kamran Imanov, due to the introduction of the new system, it is planned to adopt a number of legal acts. "Recently, Azerbaijan adopted a law 'On ensuring intellectual property rights and combating piracy'. Under this law, the Cabinet of Ministers is considering a number of legal acts, which we hope will be approved in the near future," he said. Imanov noted that one of the innovations is also the implementation of a twinning project with nine European countries, monitoring of digital rights, provision of online licences in the copyright protection system in the digital environment and the regulation of the system through the one-stop shop. "Beyond the virtual market, innovations will also be introduced, in particular, the mandatory labelling of all products that contain intellectual property (hologram). Each hologram will have a unique code that will be put in the appropriate smart system," Imanov said.

Practical use

According to the director of the film studio Narimanfilm, Nariman Mammadov, Azerbaijan's film industry suffers greatly from copyright infringement. "Authors and producers suffer, and it cannot but affect the state of cinema in general, and the financial gain that producers could extract," he says. According to Nariman Mammadov, copyright compliance would guarantee the protection of producers' products and stimulate them, bringing financial dividends worthy of their work. In his view, the protection of copyright in the field of cinema will have a particularly positive impact on the entire production chain - from authors to producers and distributors of films.

The owner of the well-known bookstore chain in Baku, Nigar Kocarli, spoke about the procedure of purchasing books: "If it is a local author, we conclude a contract with him, by which we purchase the right to publish his book - in any case, he retains the copyright. If it is a foreign author, we contact his literary agent and agree on the publication of the book, retaining the rights of translation into the Azerbaijani language."

The publisher spoke very negatively of book pirates: "We spend a lot of money on royalties and on printing books, and someone can just buy a book, make copies and sell them anywhere at a low price."

Anar Rahimov is an aspiring musician. He wants to release a CD with his songs. "But it all entails some difficulties," he says. "To release a CD, it is necessary to record it at a professional studio and invest some money. In Western countries, the author hopes to profit from the sale of CDs. I have no such hope because there is no guarantee that my CD will not be copied and posted on the web for free access."

According to Eyyub Huseynov, the head of the Union of Free Consumers of Azerbaijan, we do have problems with the recognition of intellectual property. "Despite the existence of a state agency, the copyright is still periodically violated," Huseynov said. "For example, two or three times a month, we receive phone calls with complaints about the violation of intellectual property rights." According to Huseynov, 50% of products existing on the market (to which the concept of non-compliance with copyright can be applied - i.e. music CDs, pirated copies of movies, etc.) are illicit. But the people in general tend to purchase counterfeit products as it is much cheaper," the head of the Union of Free Consumers explains. "We conduct explanatory work among the population, which explains that you cannot purchase products made God knows where." By the way, relevant government agencies envisage a fine of 1,500 manats for copyright infringement.

Western experience

In Russia, a federal law known as the "anti-piracy law", which provides an opportunity to block websites containing unlicensed content if requested by the copyright holder, came into force on 1 August 2013. Although it was originally planned to apply the law to all kinds of intellectual property, they decided to confine themselves to video products.

Meanwhile in Europe, "advanced" users bypass technical barriers in all sorts of complex ways and download their favourite movies. However, this is risky because the law vigilantly protects copyright. Moreover, the relevant legislation is becoming increasingly tougher. In general, of course, it's not just about legislation and fear of punishment, but also about citizens' awareness. In the US, for example, illegal downloading from the Internet is considered theft. Citizens also disapproved of the distribution and acquisition of pirated goods. In their opinion, both sides act illegally.

Probably, we should learn not only the legislative but also the common human experience of respect for the property of others, even if we cannot touch it.