Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Law and Human Rights' Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DJKI) is seeking to regulate book royalties through a ministerial regulation to improve the welfare of writers.

"The ministerial regulation on book royalties is to elucidate the management and levying of written work royalties mandated by Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyright," DJKI's Director of Copyright and Industrial Design, Anggoro Dasananto, noted, as per the statement received here on Friday.

Dasananto pointed out that currently, the sub-optimal royalty collection system makes book writers struggle to make a living from their profession, and digital development makes written works more vulnerable to piracy, which denied potential income for its creators.

Hence, to ensure the welfare of book writers and relevant parties, a regulation on book royalty management must be drafted, the ministry's official stated.

"Same as music (royalty), the use of written work, such as books, on its copying and circulation, as well as parties, who must pay the royalty, and how the authority will levy the royalty will be regulated in the minister regulation," Dasananto expounded.

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The royalty fee that would be levied to users of books and other written works copied and circulated to various media will be regulated, he stated.

The official noted that the regulation would also regulate royalty on written works published by digital means and works created by foreign writers.

The regulation would provide a legal basis for the collective management agency to collect the royalty of commercial written works, as so far, the work royalty management is merely the result of an agreement between writers and publishers, Dasananto stated.

He remarked that the regulation would exempt royalty fees for educational works, and royalty fee relief would be provided to universities, government institutions, and small enterprises.

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Translator: M Zulfikar, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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