IPO, Pemra pledge to protect artist community’s rights

ISLAMABAD: Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Tuesday pledged to protect the rights of artist community by introducing music royalties and music copyrights in this industry.

The commitment came during a meeting between, IPO-Pakistan Chairman Mujeeb Ahmed Khan and Pemra Chairman Saleem Baig, a statement said. The heads of both organisations agreed to work jointly for music industry’s promotion.

Mujeeb Ahmed underlined the need to provide artist community their due rights for creative and innovative work. He said music industry was suffering a lot due to non-payment of royalty to the artists, prompting urgent measures to rectify the situation.

Mujeeb requested to his counterpart for ensuring compliance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in broadcasting sector since Pemra was a regulatory authority and all broadcasting channels fell in its domain.

Pemra chairman endorsed the idea and said Pemra would ensure protection of IPRs in connection with the music industry and for the purpose, the authority would include explicit terms and conditions in the licenses, issued to the channels.

IPO chairman expressed his gratitude to Pemra chairman for his efforts in this regard and apprised that IPO would soon organise a mega event for creating awareness with respect to music and film industry in which all stakeholders would be invited.

The meeting was also attended by IPO Executive Director Meesaq Arif and Director General (Operations) and General Manager (Operations) of Pemra.