Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Bangladesh: A Policy Making Perspective

Abstract

Creativity and innovation have no limits but endless benefits. As a result, protection, promotion and management of Intellectual Property (IP) are becoming instruments for national development. This development is made possible by: (1) globalization of trade and commerce and (2) the emerging knowledge-based world economy. A part of the revolutionary changes symbolized by the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995-96 was a new international IP system. The Berne Convention remained the basic law, with many amendments. First, there was the WIPO Treaty, which applied the Berne Convention to digital works such as computer software and e-books. Then there was the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS), administered by the WTO. Among other things, TRIPS required countries to make their laws effective to enforce the rights in it. In response to this new obligation, Bangladesh enacted the Copyright Act, 2000 (amended in 2005), Trademark Act, 2009, and Geographical Indication Act, 2013. Yet there is no fully thought-through policy on IP. These laws were patched on to the old copyright and trademark law left by the British, from the 1800s. There was little awareness of rights under these Acts and thus little enforcement. Thus, Bangladesh became one of the worst countries of the world for ‘piracy’. In 2010, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) identified Bangladesh as the world’s 2nd worst software-pirating country. In 2013, Bangladesh stood 130th out of 142 countries in terms of their enabling environment to innovation and their innovation outputs. Present study was an attempt to find out the causes of problems by applying various research methods like content analysis and interview. Several in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with various professionals like poet, writer, scientist, filmmaker-producer, painter, singer-lyricist-composer, theater worker-director and performer, advocate, police officer, government high officials, agency heads, NGO worker, social activist and so on. It was concluded that it is high time to develop an Intellectual Property Right policy because we want to transform Bangladesh into an innovative economy. An innovative economy first respect and protects new ideas: that is the essence of the function of IP law. In this regard, Government should work to develop a national framework for creation and protection of IPRs, of which copyright is the first and foremost, which should continuously evolve toward meeting global standards.