Bangladesh ranks second in the world when it comes to piracy of intellectual properties, speakers said at a daylong boot camp yesterday.
The programme styled “Youth, The Driving Force for Creativity and Innovation” was held at Dr Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium of Dhaka University. It was arranged on occasion of the World Intellectual Property Day.
“Without having permission according to the copyright law, lots of intellectual properties are being copied every day. As a result, owners of the works as well as the country are being deprived of a huge amount of money,” they said.
Bangladesh Copyright and IP Forum (BCIPF) arranged the programme with the assistance of Bangladesh Copyright Office.
The speakers stressed the need for creating awareness of the issue among the countrymen.
Around 100 students from different universities attended the programme which was comprised of workshop sessions, keynote address and question-and-answer sessions. The event was an initiative to generate active involvement of the youth community in fostering intellectual property awareness in the country.
Ronjit Kumar Biswas, Secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs was the chief guest at the programme. Md Manjurur Rahman, former copyright registrar; Barrister ABM Hamidul Misbah, founder of BCIPF; Korvi Rakhsand, founder of Jaago Foundation; Pubudu Basnayake, representative of Microsoft Bangladesh; Kazi Zahin Hasan, Chairman of BCIPF; Jishu Tarafder; and musician Maqsudul Haque addressed the programme and discussed a range of issues related to piracy and intellectual property.
