Trade Minister stresses need to pay royalties to artistes
Chaminda Perera
|
Minister Bandula
Gunawardena |
Trade Marketing Development Cooperative and Consumer Affairs Minister
Bandula Gunawardena at a meeting with artistes on Thursday focused on
the payment of royalties to artistes under the Intellectual Property
Act.
The Minister extensively discussed the importance of paying royalties
to artistes who render yeoman service to society. He stressed that legal
steps should be expedited to enable the payment of royalties to artistes
in keeping with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s pledge on 2009 budget.
Minister Gunawardena said President Rajapaksa through 2009 budgetary
proposals has pledged to bring forward provision to enable the payment
of royalties to the artistes. Director General of the Intellectual
Property Department Dr. Karunaratne spoke of the role of State agencies
to make program a success.
Jayantha Dharmadasa, Rohana Weerasinghe, Bandara Eheliyagoda and
Saman Chandranath Weerasinghe represented the Artistes’ Association and
Oscar Association while Visharada Dayaratne Ranatunga, Bobby Botheju and
Siri Sumana Godage represented other organizations. |
