Putrajaya, Wed.

Talks are underway for Malaysia to ratify two international treaties that would pave the way for the country to provide copyright protection for material over the Internet.

“By joining the treaties, Malaysia would commit itself to protecting the movement of intellectual property over the Net, especially for commercial purposes,” Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk S. Subramaniam said after opening a seminar on Cyber Crimes, Cyber Investigations and Cyberlaws at the Shangrila Putrajaya.

No date, he added, had been set for joining the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty and the WIPO Copyright Treaty.

Also known as the Internet Treaties, the two treaties were adopted by the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation in 1996 and establish basic standards of protection for copyright and related rights on the Internet and other digital networks.

Under the treaties, Governments are required to regulate access to and use of creative works, which may be copied and distributed over the Internet.

Up to Jan15, 39 countries have ratified the WIPO Copyright Treaty and till March 15, 41 countries have ratified the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

The one-day seminar was organised by Di Purba Consulting Sdn Bhd and the Asian School of Cyber Laws, India. Speakers included the school’s president, Rohas Nagpal, and guest speaker Abhinav Bhatt. Prof John white, the dean of the Anglia Polytechnic University’s law faculty, was the moderator.

Subramaniam said the implementation of the treaties would focus primarily on the breach of copyright regulations for business purposes over the Internet.

“Those who deserve protection should benefit from it and once we adopt the treaty, we would be able to provide cross-border protection of information in the Internet,” he said.

The move was part of the Ministry’s efforts to keep up-to-date with developments and strengthen the regulatory framework to provide protection for intellectual property.

In his keynote address earlier, Subra said the government recognized the challenges posed by the Information Technology to intellectual property protection and was committed to effectively manage strong intellectual property protection in this new environment.

In view of this, Subramaniam said legal and regulatory framework, which were currently in place had to be reviewed and tightened to cater for new developments.

On another matter, Subramaniam said at present, there has not been an increase in prices of essential goods nor slump in consumer confidence.

“We have been monitoring the prices of 250 controlled and essential goods weekly and there has not been an increase.”