The Vietnam Centre for Protection of Music Copyright (VCPMC) is intending to take legal action against SkyMusic JS Company for copyright violation.

Director of the Vietnam Centre for Protection of Music Copyright, Dinh Trung Can speaks at the press conference

VCPMC on Wednesday held a press conference to provide more information about the case.

According to the VCPMC director Dinh Trung Can, SkyMusic had taken around 2,000 songs by some 700 musicians from a website of the centre without being permission.   

Songwriter Hoai An said 192 songs he wrote were put up on SkyMusic's websites in this way. Many other musicians such as Nguyen Van Chung and Tran Minh Phi also had the same complaints.

SkyMusic signed contracts with its customers, including restaurants, hotels, and cafe shops, to collect the fees for using these songs; but, the firm did not pay the centre as well as the songwriters.

At the meeting with the centre in May this year, SkyMusic agreed to stop using the songs and pay VND3.3 billion (USD143,478) in compensation for this infringement. However, it has broken its promise, Can added.

VCPMC is on the way to finalise procedures to bring the case to the court.

Can noted that his agency had informed the Vietnam Competition Authority of the case, but nothing had been done.

SkyMusic Company was established in 2013. The company is considered an alliance of various popular music websites, channels and retail stores.

Tien Phong/Dtinews