Vietnam Television may be sued for copyright infringement                                   A private Vietnamese television studio has accused Vietnam Television (VTV) of violating copyrights on one of its programmes, saying that they were completing procedures to bring the case to the court after Tet. At a press conference held on January 25, Nguyen Hoang Thao, the owner of Hoang Thao Film Studio, said that the format and the name of the programme called “Vietnamese stars”, currently being broadcasted by VTV, is identical to a protected show in development at the private studio.   Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thao, the owner of Hoang Thao Film Studio  Hoang Thao said that he has asked the lawyer, Tran Dinh Trien, of Vi Dan Law Firm, to represent the studio. On December 11, they sent a petition to Vietnam Copyright, VTV’s Vietnam Television Film Studio and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. On December 17, Vietnam Copyright asked for an explanation from the studio. However, surprisingly, just one day later, on December 18, Vietnam Copyright granted the copyright registration certificate for the programme “Vietnamese stars” for the studio. According to Trien, this is completely irrational, saying that Vietnam Copyright is responsible for dealing with copyright issues, but have cooperated in settling the matter. VTV’s programme “Vietnamese stars” is a television contest showcase young Vietnamese who are musically talented. The programme has attracted a great deal attention, and is now in the primary round. What does VTV say?   Judge panel on “Vietnamese stars” After receiving the petition from Hoang Thao Film Studio, VTV said that it had bought the copyright for the programme “Vietnamese stars” from its partners. They claim that their partners were granted copyrights by Vietnam Copyright and the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam approved the protection for the logo of the programme. On December 19, VTV representatives worked with Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thao, but Thao refused to provide evidence that VTV was guilty of copyright infringement. They said that there only some similarities between the two programmes, Thao said that there are no grounds to blame VTV for copyright infringement. Hoang Thao to sue VTV Trien said Thao’s refusal to give evidence is because he wants to keep his documents in secret. The lawyer added that he met Mrs. Vu Thi Thanh Tam, an official from VTV, to talk about the signing of copyright and sponsorship contracts for the programme, however, Tam failed to give answers. Trien added that he and Mr. Thao are prepared to sue VTV after Tet. VietnamNet