On April 23rd, 204, the Youth Union of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Vietnam Digital Communications Association, and organizations and enterprises in the fields of digital content, digital copyright, creative industries, cultural industries, communications, and marketing organized the VMCC MarCom Talk #8 workshop on the topic “Character Licensing & Character Marketing: Enhancing Connections, Opening Revenue Streams”.
This was part of a series of events celebrating World Intellectual Property Day on April 26 in Vietnam, 2024, contributing to the popularization, vivid visualization, and economicization of intellectual property and creativity knowledge to enhance communication and education effectiveness, and to bring intellectual property into real life more practically. It aimed to raise public awareness of protecting intellectual property rights and copyright, especially in the context where the creative industry is developing strongly.
VIETNAMESE CREATIVE INDUSTRY ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 3% OF GDP
As one of the important fields in promoting intellectual property, the creative industry and cultural industry have and are creating values leading to sustainable development goals, solving issues related to the economy, people, and the environment.
Global creative industry revenue is 2.25 trillion USD, employing a workforce larger than the car industry of Europe, Japan, and the US combined. The numbers show that this is a “golden goose” for countries exporting culture and global creativity such as the US, the UK, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, etc.
In these countries, creative industries account for 5-8% of GDP. As for Vietnam, it is estimated that creative industries and cultural industries account for about 3% of GDP.
Sconnect, as one of the pioneers in creating content, bringing great value, has its own development direction, creating its own sets of animated characters, producing great films to attract children around the world, becoming one of the typical examples of successfully developing IPs in Vietnam.
Sharing the achievements of creative efforts, Mr. Ta Manh Hoang, Chairman of the Vietnam Digital Content Creation Alliance, CEO of Sconnect, said that Sconnect is currently creating 18 IP sets, many of which are loved by children around the world, such as Wolfoo.
The Wolfoo animated series has achieved many remarkable achievements, translated into more than 20 languages with over 2 billion views per month on YouTube, and received 3 diamond buttons.
This is an inspiring story for Vietnamese creative enterprises, giving them faith that Vietnamese creativity can conquer the global market, bring value to the country, and make its mark on the world.
“We can create our own sets of animated characters, commercialize them in our own way, through educational applications, games, films, and it is entirely possible to succeed. Creative activities, especially content creation, will continue to have great potential in the coming period. Vietnam’s content creation industry is developing strongly. Vietnamese creativity is completely capable of affirming its role and value in the international market. Our efforts will create new achievements in the coming period”, affirmed the Chairman of the Digital Content Creation Alliance.
With the theme “Character Licensing & Character Marketing”, VMCC MarCom Talk #08 provided a lot of valuable information and knowledge, helping businesses understand and realize the creation and exploitation of character image copyright to serve business activities.
As one of the pioneering enterprises in Character Marketing, Ms. Doan Thi Bich Ngoc, CEO of Canifa, shared valuable lessons on the strategy of purchasing image copyright, scope of application, and the process of implementation, evaluation, and measurement. Through her own story, Ms. Ngoc analyzed and explained why businesses need to purchase copyright and the value it brings to them.
Ms. Lai Thi Mai, Co-founder and CEO of WOA UNI – a member company specializing in character merchandising of Sconnect, shared knowledge on value creation models, development models of a character (Character -IP), criteria, and IP standards for the character licensing industry worldwide and how to apply them in Vietnam. Ms. Mai gave an overview of this industry both internationally and in Vietnam, as well as made assessments of development trends.
PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, COPYRIGHT FACES MANY CHALLENGES
Ms. Mai also pointed out some issues that the market is facing, such as brands being licensees of major IP owners through licensing agencies in the region; there are no integrated copyright marketing services. Besides, market awareness is still limited. Moreover, the situation of counterfeit goods, copying of famous character images is still prevalent. However, this is an opportunity to spread the right understanding, develop creative capacity to serve economic development.
Emphasizing the importance of creativity, Mr. Tran Xuan Bach, Secretary of the Youth Union of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that creativity and innovation have become an indispensable part of daily life and an important factor for economic and social development. From information technology, communications to arts and design, these fields are witnessing an explosion of new ideas and unique products.
“The important thing is that this creativity can only develop sustainably when intellectual property rights for creative products are protected and respected”, said Mr. Bach.
Creativity and innovation have become an indispensable part of daily life and an important factor for economic and social development. The important thing is that this creativity can only develop sustainably when intellectual property rights for creative products are protected and respected.
According to Mr. Bach, intellectual property rights, or more specifically in this case, copyright and authorship rights, play an extremely important role in protecting and encouraging creativity. Intellectual property rights are an important tool to ensure that creators of new ideas and unique products are protected and fairly compensated for their work. Copyright not only protects the economic interests of the author but also protects their moral rights and creativity.
However, today, the protection of intellectual property rights and copyright is facing many challenges. According to Mr. Bach, one of the biggest challenges today is the prevalence of the internet and digital technology, which has facilitated the illegal copying and distribution of works.
This raises the question of how to enforce intellectual property protection regulations effectively and fairly in the context of the digital economy.
In recent years, the Ministry of Science and Technology has made many efforts to enhance the effectiveness of intellectual property rights enforcement through the revision, supplementation, and enactment of the Intellectual Property Law, Intellectual Property Strategy, Strategy on Science and Technology Development and Innovation, and in the coming time, the Law on Science and Technology will be revised.
Mr. Bach emphasized that “protecting intellectual property rights and copyright is not only the responsibility of legislators and the government but also the responsibility of the entire community. Each of us has the responsibility to comply with intellectual property regulations and respect the creativity of others”.
Sharing this view, Mr. Hoang Dinh Chung, Director of the Digital Copyright Center, said that in the digital environment, intellectual property, copyright is a matter of survival. To protect creative values, proactive and comprehensive solutions are needed.
Mr. Chung also emphasized the importance of communications in protecting intellectual property rights, copyright, and creativity in the digital environment, not only for content creators but also for state management agencies, content distribution and exploitation platforms, etc.
