Govt to make IPR laws time-befitting

The government has taken initiatives to make the existing laws on intellectual property rights (IPR) time-befitting to protect the local innovations, inventions and creations, experts said. As part of the initiative, the government has already started taking opinion of international and local experts, Jay A Erstling, an international intellectual property expert, told news agency BSS yesterday.

Erstling has been invited to deliver a keynote speech at a seminar on the "Role of intellectual property rights for the growth of ICT industry in Bangladesh".

The event will be jointly organised by Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment and Governance (LICT) Project of Bangladesh Computer Council under the ICT Division and Bangladesh Intellectual Property Forum (BIPF) today.

Mustafa Jabbar, president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), said the copyright act of 2005 and patents law of 1911 are not adequate to ensure protection of innovations, inventions and creations. The existing IP laws must be updated and amended, and without IP protection the investment could not be enhanced and the industry could not be flourished, he said.

“If our software is not protected, the software industry will not be able to develop.” He also urged the government for introduction of an IP office, which would provide one-stop services for the industry and individuals.

Rezaul Karim, project director of LICT, said the aim of the initiative is to make IPR time-befitting to stop piracy and protect the innovation by rewarding inventors for their efforts and use the tool as sustainable growth and expansion of digital economy.

The reform of IPR has become inevitable as the digital world poses a new challenge - how to manage the balance when the consumer is the creator, when the marginal cost of copying is zero and when the access to information and content is easy, he said.

Sami Ahmed, LICT component team leader, said lack of IP protection is a major concern for the growth of the IT industry. "Enforcement and amendment of IP laws are necessary for attracting foreign investment in this sector."

Erstling, who is also an Emeritus Professor at Mitchell Hamlin School of Law of Hamline University, USA, is visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of BIPF.