The organizers of the "Slavianski Bazaar" have not yet paid the authors their remuneration

April 22, Minsk / Olga Belyavskaya - BELTA /. Organizers of the XVIII International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" have not yet paid copyright royalties to Belarusian and foreign authors. This was announced today at a press conference by Alexei Bichurin, Head of the Center for Collective Management of Property Rights of the National Center of Intellectual Property, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. More than Br200 million in copyright royalties have not been paid. Along with the National Center of Intellectual Property, interested state bodies have also joined in resolving the problem. Possible solutions to the problematic issue are being worked out, including in order to maintain the trust of the author community. In 2009, copyright royalty payments to Belarusian authors in Belarus increased by 13% compared to 2008, and payments from abroad increased by 22%. At the same time, Belarus significantly lags behind other countries in collecting copyright royalties, including those comparable in population and size, as well as economic development level. Eliminating such a disproportion is possible, including through changes in national legislation. The draft of the new law on copyright and related rights, which is currently under consideration, contains proposals for the development of collective management as a real and effective mechanism for supporting authors and creativity as a whole, emphasized Alexei Bichurin. -0-