25. 03. 2014

50 ILLEGAL RADIO STATIONS IN SERBIA

25.03.2014 (RTV) - There are at least 50 illegal radio stations operating constantly In Serbia, Dragan Jovanović, deputy chief of the Ministry of Interior (MUP) Department for High-Technology Crime, said today.

At a round-table discussion on piracy, held in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS), he said that the number of pirate broadcasters is not decreasing because when the Department manages to close some, others start operating right away.

The pirate radio stations are a problem for the protection of intellectual property rights, because, as Jovanovic said, they use music without paying royalties.

He said that there is no statistical data in Serbia on losses of the music industry due to piracy, but he said that he assumes that the losses are similar to those documented internationally, where piracy caused around a 40 percent drop in sales in the last five years.

Problems in Serbia in fighting piracy in the music and film industry, according to Jovanovic, are copyright infringement, low standard, lenient sentencing policy, and the lack of involvement of state authorities.

Milos Stojković from the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) legal team said that the number of illegal broadcasters in Serbia, which is about 50, is large for a small market such as the Serbian one.

"This is a broader social problem, which has a cultural aspect ," said Stojković, noting that the pirate stations are also demonstrating some insolence by founding their own associations.

He said that the punishment of pirate stations is impossible because the legislation has a defect, and he added that the cases are subject to the statute on limitation by the time they get to court because the owners of pirate stations do not respond to court hearings and the police does not want to bring them in.

Director of the Intellectual Property Office Branka Totić said that the protection of creative industries, including music, film and software, is important because in Serbia, according to preliminary data, these constitute about four percent of the budget.