During an interview the director of the Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre contends that the editorial staff of a dictionary of Vietnamese folklore should take responsibility for adding Tran Dang Khoa’s poem to the folklore collection.
Nguyen Thi Thu Hue, writer and Director of the Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre
Nguyen Thi Thu Hue, a writer and Director of the Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre, said in a recent interview with DTiNews that the poem Di Danh Than Han or “Fighting with the Drought Deity” be removed from the dictionary.
Over the past few days, public concerns have been raised over a case why poet Tran Dang Khoa’s Di Danh Than Han was mistakenly included in a dictionary of Vietnamese folklore. Do you think this is evidence of lax management over literary copyright or weakness in scientific research?
I think the case demonstrates both.
The allegations of lax management are true when it comes to literary copyright, as most Vietnamese writers don’t aggressively defend their copyrights and a few of them have representation for this issue. When their copyrights are infringed, they often take no action as long as their content has not been changed. Literary copyright infringement has been commonplace for years and seems to have been on the rise recently. It’s really difficult for Vietnamese authors to pursue lawsuits because of the time and money necessary to do so.
Many scholarly works are not up to standard and the situation will not improve unless effective measures are taken. Many people in this field prefer to produce quick results and may not take the time to ensure that what they are producing is reliable and factual. This could have bad effects, especially on the younger generation.
Like you said the country has yet to pay proper attention to literary copyright issues. What areas should we pay the most attention to in tackling the problem of control over copyrights?
This is a major problem that will require the cooperation of different parties, including writers, publishing houses and even readers. It also requires strict legal framework.
Tran Dang Khoa’s poem mistakenly labeled as folklore in two books
The dictionary’s chief editor has claimed that mistakenly categorising a popular literary works as folklore is normal. Is this comment persuasive?
I don’t agree with that comment. This type of mistake should be addressed immediately in order to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Do you think that the Institute of Literature should pay the author, Tran Dang Khoa, copyright fees because his poem was printed and called Bac Lieu folklore in the dictionary?
In my opinion Tran Dang Khoa should speak out about this mistake and call for more accuracy and honesty in research work, prevent copyright infringement and instill a sense of responsibility in those responsible for compiling and editing literature and reference books.
As director of the Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre, could you please suggest a solution to such issue?
The dictionary’s editorial staff should be honest and take responsibility for what was clearly their mistake. Also, the poem by Tran Dang Khoa should be removed from the dictionary. Finally, the Institute of Literature should do a better job of supervising the editorial and compiling processes for research projects and reference materials. Those responsible for mistakes should be sanctioned.
