Bill for new copyright law to ban import of pirated recordings
Church music, Internet and mobile phone entertainment to stay exempt from copyright fees
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Imports of pirate videos and music recordings will be made illegal, if Parliament passes a proposal for a new copyright law next week. Parliament debated the proposal for three hours on Wednesday.
Current legislation allows personal imports of pirate CDs and videos for personal use.
Punishments for importing illegal copies of copyrighted material are to be set later. Observers believe that the crime will probably be punishable by a fine.
The proposed law also enhances the rights of musicians: under the bill, all members of a band would be entitled to copyright payments for the broadcast of a music video.
Under existing legislation, all band members have been entitled to copyright payments for music played on the radio, while music videos shown on television have brought copyright payments only to the vocalist.
Proposals to impose copyright fees on church music were rejected by MPs, who felt that such a move would be a threat to religious freedom. Consequently, music played during religious services is likely to remain exempt from copyright fees.
There was also debate on Wednesday over a paragraph in the bill concerning programme distribution. Currently television broadcasters have paid copyright compensation to producers of music and films. In the future, more programming will be seen and heard on the Internet and on mobile telephones, which have not been subject to copyright fees.
As the bill now stands, Internet and mobile phone distribution would continue to be copyright-exempt.
Parliament is scheduled to finalise the content of the bill on Friday, and vote on its approval next week.
Helsingin Sanomat
