First News sues local schools for copyright violations
By Huy Nguyen in HCMC
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| First News director Nguyen Van Phuoc at a press briefi ng held on Monday at Express Cafe in HCM - Photo: Huy Nguyen |
First News announced it has the copyright of the English curriculum New TOEIC and it has filed a lawsuit against two local schools for illegally using these books in Vietnam.
First News director Nguyen Van Phuoc said his company still has a one-year negotiation period to re-purchase the New TOEIC copyright from South Korean professor Kim Dae Kyun and a U.S. publishing house.
The English syllabus is highly valued for its track record in supporting students to practice and improve listening, speaking, reading and writing and grammar skills.
The move shows First News’ determination to affirm its possession rights of the syllabus in the face of the overwhelming presence of pirated books on the market. In fact, the firm is not the only victim of this illegal business activity.
Phuoc stated that the Supreme People’s Court in HCMC was handling his firm’s lawsuit against the Australia International English School (AIES) and the Vietnam Australia Society English Center (VAS).
First News accuses these schools of having violated the copyrights of syllabus it owns such as Starter TOEIC, Intermediate TOEIC and TOEIC analyst.
According to First News’ legal team, there are several international schools in Vietnam illegally using English curriculums whose copyrights belong to the company.
However, First News only sued the two schools because they had continued to violate the copyright despite being repeatedly detected and warned by the enterprise and relevant authorities.
Phuoc said: “This is the first time a local book company has officially sued copyright violators.”
Le Hoang, general director of Sai Gon Culture Co., said when he was director of the Youth Publishing House he suffered the headache of pirated books.
Hoang hoped First News would win the case since he believed a victory would motivate lawmakers to change the law to protect book publishers.
Phuoc said the company had been authorized by the U.S. Compass publishing company to carry out lawsuits against the violators in terms of its brand’s value in Vietnam.