The National Assembly deputy and Lawyer analyzed that the Vietnamese national anthem in the Vietnam - Laos match at the AFF Cup was not broadcast on a digital platform.

December 6,2021, many spectators watching the Vietnam - Laos match at the AFF Cup tournament via the Internet were surprised when the sound of the opening song of the National Anthem was muted.

The match screen shows the message: "Due to music copyright, we are forced to mute the flag at the flag-raising ceremony. After the flag-raising ceremony, the audio signal will return to normal, hope the audience will understand. have a cold".

December 6, many spectators watching the Vietnam - Laos match at the AFF Cup tournament via the Internet were surprised when the sound of the opening song of the National Anthem was muted.

The match screen shows the message: "Due to music copyright, we are forced to mute the flag at the flag-raising ceremony. After the flag-raising ceremony, the audio signal will return to normal".

Do not play the national anthem, affecting the reputation of the country

Mr. Pham Van Hoa - Deputy Head of the specialized delegation, the National Assembly Delegation of Dong Thap province said: Obviously, even the national anthem song being interrupted is unacceptable.  This is a very serious matter, affecting the reputation of the country and the interests of the community, so it is necessary to clearly define who is responsible.

Mr. Hoa wondered, why should it be muted, while your side plays the whole song while I have to mute it?

"The national anthem is a song expressing the sacredness of the country but must be muted, which is an absurdity that affects the reputation of the country," said Mr. Hoa.

NA deputy Pham Van Hoa also said that on October 26, the National Assembly held an online discussion on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Intellectual Property Law. It is expected that this Law will continue to be commented on and considered for approval at the 3rd session. Including copyright ownership…

The copyright of the national anthem, in my opinion, belongs to the author, but the author has given it to the State, it is now owned by the State and the management unit of this song is assigned by the State to manage. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism must be responsible for managing this issue."

According to Mr. Hoa, if there are provisions in the Law, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive ownership procedures and only the State-owned unit, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, has the right to own and license the units that want to use

For example, if a music program, music program or movie abroad wants to include the national anthem song, is it possible to have the national anthem song included and to get permission from any agency, what procedures to follow, the management unit is the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism must clarify.

Even owning a recording of this song, Mr. Hoa also said that if it violates the interests of the community and the interests of the country, the management agency can still handle it in accordance with the law.

Who does the national anthem copyright?

Regarding this content, lawyer Nguyen Tien Hoa - Hanoi Lawyers Association analyzed: In fact, copyright of musical works is different from copyright of recordings of musical works.

Copyright in a musical work in legal terms is "copyright to a musical work". Phonographic copyright in legal terms is "relevant rights to phonograms". These are two different subjects under the scope of copyright.

In which, related rights are a small branch of copyright. When you want to make a sound recording based on an original work, you need to get permission from the author/owner of the work.

In this case, because musician Van Cao's family has agreed to donate the work to the state and people, the work has become a work of the public, and both parties have the right to use it to create a phonogram. , as long as it does not misrepresent or damage the value of the work.

Accordingly, in this case, the "authority" of the song "Tien Quan ca" belongs to the late musician Van Cao and his legal heirs. The "relevant rights" to the song recording belong to the unit that has spent effort, time and property to create that recording. In other words, Ho Guom Audio has all related rights to the recording of the work "Tien Quan ca" created by themselves.

Meanwhile, the rights to Tien Quan ca are currently assigned to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Regarding the right to warn on Youtube about the infringement of recordings (according to Youtube regulations), Lawyer Hoa said that: the owner of the phonogram has all and full rights to the recording he created, one of which is to allow or deny others the use of their work.

In other words, the owner of the recording has the right to warn of violations or even request sanctions for infringements on the digital environment in general and Youtube in particular. The exercise of this right is regulated by the laws of Vietnam, not by the regulations of Youtube or any other service provider in the network environment.

Mr.Hoa also said that, up to now, the work "Tien Quan Ca" is not the property of the State because there has not been any official document to recognize this issue.

In fact, "Tien Quan Ca" was chosen as the national anthem as recorded in the Constitution of our country.

According to Mr. Hoa, the family's donation of works to the state and people, the work "Tien Quan Ca" is no longer the property of any party.

Therefore, the production of recordings by Ho Guom Audio or any other party is not an infringement of rights. Also, any unit has full related rights as prescribed by law with respect to their phonograms.

Therefore, Ho Guom Audio has related rights to the sound recording, so it is justifiable to authorize another party to help protect the rights. Rights here are not only understood in the narrow sense of profit or commercialization. The rights here are very broad, including whether or not to allow others to repost your work.

This morning, December 7th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just announced: The song Tien Quan Ca is the national anthem of Vietnam. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is responsible for performing the state management function and must take necessary measures to preserve and promote the value of the National Anthem.

The law of Vietnam prohibits any organization or individual, in any form, from preventing or obstructing the dissemination of this work directly or indirectly (including on the Internet). ) in accordance with the law.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requires all individuals and organizations to strictly implement and not take any action to prevent the dissemination of the Vietnamese national anthem.

However, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has not clearly explained what "necessary measures to preserve and promote the value of the National Anthem" are, and at the same time, "Vietnam's law prohibits ... acts of preventing or obstructing the National Anthem." the dissemination ..." according to any legal provisions.