Artistes, showbiz industry vow to protect copyrights

LAHORE: Film, music, TV artistes and showbiz industry vowed to protect their copyrights while joining hands with Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO-Pakistan) and creating maximum awareness among their ranks in this regard.

They also demanded IPO-Pakistan to streamline the copyright registration process and bring it in line with the needs of the modern times. The commitment and demand by the artiste community and stakeholders relating to film industry came during a Copyright Outreach Initiative of IPO-Pakistan here on Monday.

The IPO-Pakistan has launched a rigorous Copyright Outreach Initiative during which meetings and workshops are being held inviting actors, directors, producers, musicians, writers and other stakeholders from film, drama and music industry will be invited.

Ms Shazia Adnan, Director General, IPO-Pakistan welcomed the gathering. A large number of representatives from the artiste community including, producer Syed Noor, film star Shahid, film star Nishoo, film star Ghulam Muhiuddin, senior vice-chairman of Pakistan Film Producers Association (PFPA) Safdar Malik, Zeb Bangash singer, Natasha Noorani singer, Hassan Askari Director, Altaf Hussain Director, Masood Butt Director, Shah Nawaz Santo Qawal and others were present. Meesaq Arif, Executive Director IPO, moderated the session while, Saifullah Khan, Director IPO gave a presentation on copyrights and its benefits to the artiste community and showbiz industry.

Addressing the participants, Ms Shazia Adnan said that IPO-Pakistan was aggressively going through a process of putting the whole process online to make the registration process easier for the stakeholders and demanded from the artiste community to join IPO-Pakistan’s hands to make this Outreach Programme a successful by propagating the concept of copyright on social media and among their community. She was of the view that with the concerted joint efforts, awareness could reach the lowest level for which they supported wholeheartedly.

Responding to a question about copyright laws, she said IPO-Pakistan was going through the process of amending the copyright laws and the current exercise is also a part of that effort. She maintained that ultimate mission is to enlighten and empower the artiste community by equipping them with their rights.

The artiste community appreciated the initiative of IPO-Pakistan and termed it an opportunity for the showbiz industry and artiste community and assured their pro-active participation and representation in future as well.