How hard is it for two ministries to get along?

It is unfortunate that the ongoing tug-of-war between the cultural affairs ministry and the industries ministry is thwarting the plan to establish a unified and independent intellectual property (IP) office that will provide copyrights, patents, designs, and trademark certificates. The planned integration of the cultural ministry's copyright office and the industries ministry's Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (DPDT) would not only put Bangladesh on a par with most countries in terms of having a unified office for intellectual property, but would also provide people with a "one-stop centre" for all related services, significantly reducing their hassles. But the continuing tussle between the two ministries is delaying this much-needed reform.

The instruction to unify the two offices first came from the prime minister in 2010. It was once again reiterated in 2014. Then, finally, in October 2015, a decision was taken to unify them. Six years later, despite several discussions and meetings, all efforts to amalgamate the two has fallen through due to the conflict. Meanwhile, it is the people who have been suffering. What excuse, if any, can the two ministries possibly have for the inordinate delay in executing the prime minister's instructions for streamlining and simplifying IP-related services? And what have the central authorities been doing about it? 

The copyright law protects the interests of creators by giving them property rights over their creations against those who copy, reproduce or otherwise take or use the form in which the original work was expressed. If we are to transform Bangladesh into a knowledge-based and advanced country, we have to urgently sort out our copyright issues. In order to encourage innovation and even attract foreign direct investment, Bangladesh needs to have the appropriate policy for IP rights protection, the legal framework of which is still incomplete. But how can such policies and framework be formulated when the two ministries that deal with IP-related issues cannot even work together in public interest?

At the end of the day, what matters is for the people to receive IP services without hassle. It is for the authorities to figure out how that can be done. Whether that is achieved through unifying the two offices or by forming a separate centralised national office is beside the point. The failure to properly plan, coordinate and execute to achieve the end-goal is unacceptable—but that is exactly what has been happening, and it must change.