The High Court has ruled that individuals cannot claim the copyright of the historical photographs of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Liberation War.
The court said that if anyone wants to use historical photographs of Bangabandhu or the Liberation War in any publication, he/she has to acknowledge the sources.
A HC bench of Justice Mamnoon Rahman and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman passed the order on Tuesday, disposing of a rule issued against senior Jamuna TV reporter Nazmul Hossain on charges of plagiarism and copyright violation of two books written about Bangabandhu.
Lawyer Aneek R Haque appeared for the petitioner in the court while Lawyer Shah Manjurul Haque for the journalist Nazmul Hossain.
According to the petition, although the copyright of the book ‘Bangabandhu Maanei Bangladesh’ and ‘3053 Din’ is owned by Nazmul Hasan, owner of Journey Multi Media, the copyright of the photographs of Bangabandhu used in the book are not owned by the publisher.
Lawyer Aneek R Haque said that individuals have no rights over Bangabandhu’s photographs, the people have the rights. Those who have already published the books with Bangabandhu’s photographs, are asked to quote the state in the books.
Earlier cases were filed over the copyright of two books written on Bangabandhu containing photos without proper citation and credit.
Later the HC ordered that copyright of these two books should be kept by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs and Bangladesh Jail and that the necessary changes should be done by Dec 31.
Source: United News of Bangladesh