An upright professional with experience should be named to the post of director of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), say artists, authors and singers. According to them, it is rumored that a discredited lawyer who encroached upon the interests of the national artists and damaged Moldova’s image abroad by his actions will be appointed AGEPI director general.
“After dozens of years of problems, we ultimately have clarity and stability in the management of copyright, which was ensured by the effort of the current administration of AGEPI. Finally, AGEPI began to hold regular meetings with authors and artists. The problems of artists started to be solved. Now we can say that the management of copyright can ensure the remuneration reaches the national authors and artists,” president of the “Copyright” National Association, composer Liviu Știrbu stated in a news conference at IPN.
According to him, the Government intends to name Marin Domente, who is the lawyer of the National Association for the Protection of Intellectual Creation, which does not represent them and which collected over 4.5 million lei in remuneration, but didn’t make the necessary payments to copyright owners, causing thus damage to the artists and the state budget, as AGEPI director general.
“We want a director who would be neither ours, nor of another organization working in the field. This should be unbiased, independent and expert in this area. We want to tell you that there are such specialists in the AGEPI, who can be proposed for director general of the institution,” stated writer Traian Vasilcău.
Singer Iurie Sadovnic noted the problem addressed by the artists does not go only to Moldova’s prestige in the area between the Prut and the Nistru, but also to its prestige all over the world.
“We are sick and tired of experiments performed on artists. AGEPI should defend the copyright, not only issue licenses and gain money this way,” said singer Adrian Ursu.
Composer Oleg Baraliuc stated it is not enough to be jurist or lawyer for being named director of the State Agency on Intellectual Property. The artists cannot decide who should be appointed director, but their opinion matters and the artists should be involved in the selection process.
