Pham & Associates Advises Musician Tran Lap to seek prohibition over unlawful use of his song

Pham & Associates is assisting Tran Lap, the leader of a Vietnamese Rock Band in the name of "The Wall", the copyright holder of a rock song to sue VNG Joint-Stock Company (“VNG”) via its website Zing MP3 for seeking prohibition and compensation against the unlawful use of his song.

On December 3, 2014, the HCMC People's Court opened a trial to settle an intellectual property infringement between Tran Lap, the plaintiff and VNG, the defendant for the acts of unlawful use the song of “The way to glorious day” on its website.

Before filing the lawsuit, on behalf of the Musician, Pham & Associates talked with the Defendant and try to negotiate a mutually beneficial compromise. However, the musician decided to sue when the Defendant refused a compensation of 150 million VND. One day before Court granted the decision, on December 9, 2014, the Defendant met the Musician and reached an amicable settlement including the compensation for damage in the past and the potential exploitation the music works in the future. Thus, the Musician agreed to withdraw the lawsuit.

Pham & Associates’ Managing Partner Pham Vu Khanh Toan observed that: “The case will create a good precedent for future cases since the copyright holders are rather afraid of instituting a legal proceedings against the acts of intellectual property infringement. However, before filing a lawsuit, it almost always makes sense to look for a solution out of court. This is particularly true in situations where the other party is someone you'll have to deal with in the future”.

The musician Tran Lap also said that “I do hope that the parties who want to exploit and use the music works should talk with its copyright holder to solve all the matters. It also will keep the music online market in a position to protect manufacturing companies from copyright infringement, as it did in this case”.

For additional information about this matter, please contact at hanoi@pham.com.vn

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Pham & Associates is a leading intellectual property law firm in Vietnam. We provide counsel and representation in every area of patents, trademarks, copyrights, enforcement of intellectual property rights as well as their representation in arbitration and litigation proceedings etc. For further information about our organization and services, please visit our website: www.pham.com.vn