With the topic “Copyright and related rights on the internet in Vietnam”, the Vietnamese delegates at an ongoing regional intellectual property workshop in Hanoi presented an overview of the country’s internet use as well as copyright protection and related rights on the internet.

In Vietnam, the protection of copyrights and related rights on the Internet is clearly stipulated in the Intellectual Property Law and several legal documents. All law-breakers can be fined up to VND500 million (US$28,000).

By March, Vietnam ranked 18^th among 20 nations having the largest numbers of interest users in the Miniwatts marketing group (MMG) standing. In Asia, Vietnam was placed seventh after China, Japan, India, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia and Iran in terms of Internet users.

The Asia-Pacific intellectual property workshop on information technology and communications is being held in Hanoi from July 27-31 by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and Tourism’s Copyright Department and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) with the support of the Japan Copyright Agency.