FILCOLS HUNTAHAN IN CAVITE
FILCOLS Huntahan in Cavite was held last 16 October 2010 at 2:00 p.m. in Espasyo Siningdikato, Brgy. Sta. Fe, Dasmarinas City.
The event, an informal discussion about writing, publishing, copyright and IP was well attended by young writers, artists and performers from Cavite and nearby towns. Representatives from Lyceum of the Philippines Cavite, Cavite State University, Tanghalang Pascual Poblete, De La Salle University Dasmariñas, Heraldo Filipino, campus paper of DLSU-D, Bayang Dakila Information and Media Center, Closet Lifestyle, The Sebastinian Publications, campus paper of San Sebastian College-Recoletos of Cavite, Cavite Young Writers Association and Siningdikato were present.
At exactly 2:00 p.m., Mary Anne Jimenez-Salvador of Siningdikato, one of the event’s partners, welcomed the guests and participants not only to the event but to Espasyo Siningdikato as well. Espasyo Siningdikato is an art gallery run by Siningdikato, an organization of Cavite-based visual artists. One of the organization’s aims is to help the art scene in this side of Luzon by providing a venue to exhibit and share works and philosophies regarding the arts. Espasyo had been a venue of art exhibits, book/literary folio launchings, poetry readings and other cultural events.
Ainne Frances Dela Cruz, a member of the Cavite Young Writers Association Board of Directors, gave a message about being a partner for the day’s event. CYWA is an organization of writers from the province of Cavite. Since its inception in 2004, it has been serving the Cavite literary scene through publication of works about Cavite, writing workshops, literary seminars and lectures and literary performances.
Atty. Louie C. Calvario followed by introducing the Copyright Support Services of Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. He discussed the basics of copyright and intellectual property as well. One of his statements was “Ang tao, hindi nabubuhay nang walang property.” It was to emphasize the need to acknowledge the importance of IP as a person’s property.
A short cultural presentation followed. Lhorvie Ann Nuevo from Tanghalang Pascual Poblete, performed a dance choreographed by Urie Clamor. Snacks were served as the participants eagerly waited for the next speaker.
Then Alvin J. Buenaventura, the Executive Director of FILCOLS or Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, started his talk on authors’ rights as a human right. According to him, “Artists, painters, dancers, writers are intellectual workers. They have their own body and family to feed. Kaya dapat silang bayaran para sa kanilang gawa.”
He said that this is the reason why reproduction rights organizations were established, to care and fight for the rights of copyright holders. “Writers get paid for the reproduction of their works. Photocopying is another form of reproduction of published works,” added Buenaventura.
Immediately after the talks came the question and answer portion of the program.
One of the questions was: are tag lines or one liner sentences copyrightable?
According to Atty. Calvario, they are not but these can be applied as trademark or service mark of a product or a service.
A very young writer shared that usually there are no contracts involved in negotiating with the publisher. She asked if the writer still has copyright over works that were given to publishers under this kind of situation.
Atty. Calvario noted that usually it’s the young writers who experience this. The young ones want to have their works published so most of the time, they just ignore the absence of a written contract. But for the established and popular writers, who are usually the old ones, they get to ask and demand from the publishers because they already have “clouts.”
He said that in the absence of written document or contract, the copyright reverts back to the creator. He also mentioned that having a contract doesn’t always mean that writers will get the best deal. “Ang mga kontrata ay ginagawa ng mga abogado para protektahan ang kanilang kliyente (publisher). Kadalasan, masalita at masalimuot at maliit ang font ng mga kontrata para hindi na maengganyo ang writer na basahin ito,” he warned the young writers.
A website content writer shared her heartaches about the website she’s writing for. The website gets recognized for having very well-written content. Unfortunately, writers are not allowed to put their bylines. She wanted to be recognized for her pieces.
Buenaventura advised her to put up her own website and post all of her pieces there especially the ones that were submitted to the website she mentioned. She can now put her name in the byline and be recognized for her talent. Unfortunately, she can do all of these only if she doesn’t have a written contract with the website owner/administrator that states the assignment of copyright of her works.
Someone asked about the copyright of a spoof of a popular art work. Atty. Calvario stated that there is no copyright infringement in doing a parody as long as the parody is a criticism of the original work. One must use the elements or parts of the original work to create a parody of it. In this case, the rights, especially the economic rights of the creator of the original work are still respected. The market of the original work and the market of the parody of a work are different anyway. Buenaventura added that parody is just a technical term for spoof.
More queries poured in and were answered. Soon the speakers realized that there wasn’t just enough time to answer everyone’s questions. They invited the participants to email their queries to filcols@gmail.com and louie.calvario@ipophil.gov.ph instead. They were very surprised and happy for the lively discussion. It really showed how interested these people were about protecting their rights as artists.
Certificates were awarded to all the participants and those who helped in the organization of the event like Ronald V. Verzo, a member of CYWA’s Board of Advisers.
Beverly Siy gave a word of thanks to the participants and partners CYWA and Siningdikato. She invited everyone to join FILCOLS as writers/members.
FILCOLS Huntahan in Cavite ended with a photo session of all the participants, partners and organizers of the event.
No comments:
Post a Comment