Nazia Amin
In order to commemorate the historic language movement of 21 February 1952, Ekushey Book Fair is held every year in Bangla Academy. The same is happening this year also and it’s the occasion of excitement for all the authors along with the hope of getting in touch with their respective readers. New writers launch their first authored books in book fairs every year to observe how the books are sold and accepted by the society. Admittedly, books and literature are considered as part of the culture of Bangladesh as well as valuable assets of the country. The step to arrange Ekushey Book Fair is effective to preserve the book reading culture from being demolished, in fact. As citizens of Bangladesh, people must maintain the legality of book publication and thus, some legislations are passed in this regard. Among the existing legislations on publication, there are The Copyright Act, 2000, The Publication of Books (Regulation and Control) Ordinance 1965 and The Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act, 1973.
The Copyright Act, 2000 has been passed replacing The Copyright Act, 1962 after the independence of the country and it plays a substantial role in preventing the work of the author from being copied by another person. An author may register for copyright protection in the copyright office of Bangladesh under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs after providing the final shape to his original writing piece but it is optional. The author or creator as a general rule, automatically acquires the copyright after the creation of work and no formalities are required for that irrespective of the fact that whether the outcome of the work is below standard or accurate or inaccurate.
Registration of copyright may sometimes operate as prime facie evidence in case of seeking remedies for it’s infringement. In Bangladesh, civil, criminal and administrative remedies are available for infringement of copyright. Whereas the registration is held and the work is illegally duplicated by another, the aggrieved party can apply to the Registrar to ban the copies from being imported. So, it can be stated that the writer of a book can take steps in multifarious ways where his book is intentionally copied by others.
Sometimes, the owner can issue a license of the copyright to a third party to assign all or certain rights regarding the work. These rights can include adaptation, reproduction, publication, translation, communication to the public etc. On a different note, an author of a book gets copyright protection for lifetime which extends to 60 years after his death. In case of Government work, the duration is 60 years from the date of its publication. Furthermore, the works become public property after expiration of the period of protection.
The Publication of Books (Regulation and Control) Ordinance 1965 though recognized as an ordinance of East Pakistan, is enforceable in Bangladesh as per the provision of section 1(2) of the ordinance. According to section 4(2), Government or any officer empowered can refuse permission to print or publish any book which can destroy the cultural, traditional and national values of the country. So, an author must keep the fact in mind that how his own country is going to be represented in his writing. Otherwise, his manuscript can be rejected by the Governmental body. The ordinance has provided scope to the aggrieved party to prefer an appeal against such rejection order.
Section 3 of The Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act, 1973 states that the names of the publisher, printer and place of publication are required to be mentioned on the book upon its publication. It can be considered as one of the most important provisions to judge the authenticity of a published book. Contravention of this provision is punishable with fine not exceeding five thousands taka or simple imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both. Moreover, one must observe the legality of a printing press before he made any contract regarding publication. The Act has provided provision that any person wanting to be the possessor of a printing press must apply to subscribe for declaration in Form A to the District Magistrate of the district where the press is situated. Such declaration is required to be sealed and signed by the said District Magistrate but before that, he must be satisfied with the facts that the publisher is a citizen of Bangladesh, that the person making the declaration is authorized to do so, that the person acting as publisher is of sound mind. If the District Magistrate refuses to authenticate the declaration, then the party aggrieved from such refusal can bring an appeal to the Press Appellate Board within forty five days of refusal. Whereas the District Magistrate fails to authenticate declaration within sixty days of applying, the publisher has the chance to make an application to the Press Appellate Board to provide direction to the Magistrate for authentication.
Publication of books requires time and hard work particularly, for the authors and publishers to successfully publish books and give something valuable to the readers. These hard work should not be wasted for being unaware of the legal provisions of publication and face ban or rejection in consequence of failure to comply with such provisions. Hence, the knowledge of legislations of book publication have to be spreaded as much as possible. In this way, we can protect our national language and book reading culture and also increase the number of readers.
Writer: Nazia Amin, Lawyer and Columnist.
