KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 — The National Film Development Corporation (Finas) will collaborate with the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO) in an effort to increase intellectual property (IP) registration among the country’s actors and art practitioners.
Finas chief executive officer Datuk Azmir Saifuddin Mutalib said the move was important for actors and artistes to be able to generate continuous income through various methods such as distribution sales and remixes (re-recordings of works), besides protection against piracy in the film industry.
“When we talk about business, the value of IP is very important. Sometimes producers only see box office movies this year, maybe the second year too, but when we hold the IP and rights to the work, we can monetise it in multiple ways (later).
“Let’s say we have a movie genre that was a hit in the 80s, if someone wants to remix that movie now, we can claim that we have the IP. But basically, it depends on the quality of the work, then monetisation can be done,” he said after appearing as a guest on Bernama TV’s ‘Apa Khabar Malaysia’ programme today.
Azmir also informed that he had a meeting with the director of MyIPO, Kamal Kormin last week to discuss IP issues in the creative and film industry, which will be followed by several more meetings to finalise the form of cooperation that can be implemented.
Meanwhile, Azmir said the proposal to improve the Finas Act 1981 (Act 244) including content creators for commercial films is now in its final draft and is expected to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat this September.
“In the year the Act was established, the definition related to moving images (moving image) only, but from what we have discussed with the Finas lawyers, the definition will be maintained, only that there will be additions related to digital platforms in line with current technological developments,” he said. — Bernama
