Upgrade IP laws to protect new inventions: experts

The existing laws on intellectual property (IP) rights must be updated and amended to ensure protection for the new inventions and attract more investments for the industry, an expert said yesterday.

The current patent laws are not sufficient to protect the developers' copyright in the country, said Mustafa Jabbar, president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).

He was addressing a seminar titled “Role of intellectual property rights for growth of ICT industry in Bangladesh” at the auditorium of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) in the capital. The event was jointly organised by the ICT division, BCC, Leveraging ICT for Growth (LICT), a project of BCC under the division; and Bangladesh Intellectual Property Forum.

Jabbar said Bangladesh's ICT industry is flourishing day by day.

Although the government allocates a huge amount of money for innovations every year, the existing laws cannot provide proper legal support for the creations, he said.

Experts said the government has to take initiatives to make the existing laws on IP rights time-befitting.

“If our software is not protected, the industry will not develop,” said Sami Ahmed, LICT component team leader.

He said lack of IP protection is a major concern for the growth of the IT industry. “Enforcement and amendment of the IP laws are necessary to attract foreign investment in the sector.”

Rezaul Karim, project director of LICT, said the aim of the initiative is to make IP rights time-befitting to stop piracy and protect the innovations by rewarding inventors for their efforts.

Jay A Erstling, an international IP expert and an Emeritus Professor at Mitchell Hamlin School of Law of Hamline University, USA, presented the keynote speech in presence of the industry experts.

Industry insiders said the country's software market currently stands at around Tk 2,000 crore and it is growing every day.