The copyright reward system and content owners in the creative industry: A study of the Malaysian film and TV industry

• Author: Ida Madieha Abdul Ghani Azmi,Rokiah Alavi
• Date: 01 July 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jwip.12121
• Published date: 01 July 2019

Received: 14 August 2018

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Revised: 27 January 2019

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Accepted: 8 March 2019

DOI: 10.1111/jwip.12121

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The copyright reward system and content

owners in the creative industry: A study of the

Malaysian film and TV industry

Rokiah Alavi

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Ida Madieha Abdul Ghani Azmi

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1

Department of Economics, Kulliyyah of

Economics and Management Sciences and

Research Fellow at the Centre for Islamic

Economics and Policy Studies, International

Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia

2

Department of Civil Law, Ahmad Ibrahim

Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic

University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Correspondence

Ida Madieha Abdul Ghani Azmi, Department

of Civil Law, Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of

Laws, International Islamic University

Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, 50728 Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia.

Email: imadieha@iium.edu.my

Funding information

Fundamental Research Grant Scheme,

Ministry of Education Malaysia, Grant/Award

Number: FRGS15‐183‐0424

Abstract

The creative industry is identified as one of the key drivers

to move Malaysia into a high income and knowledge‐based

economy. Copyright law and complementary policies were

used as measures to stimulate the creative industry.

However, the industry's growth is far from the expectation.

This leads to a two‐prong inquiry. First, the paper attempts

to examine the adequacy of copyright rules and provisions in

securing the rights of the creators and provide them with

the motivation to produce more creative works. The aim is

to explore the dynamics between the various copyright

beneficiaries in the creative industry in Malaysia to under-

stand what are the actual problems that deprive the

copyright owners from reaping the full value of the exclusive

rights granted to them. The second objective is to examine

whether the copyright provisions are aligned with comple-

mentary policies implemented to boost the creative content

industry. Our primary contention is that both the legal

reforms and complementary policies used to support the

industry need to be revisited. The legal reforms must be

aligned with the structure and dynamics of power in the

industry to give all the beneficiaries an equal bargaining

plane to take advantage of the copyright system.

© 2019 The Authors. The Journal of World Intellectual Property © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

J World Intellect Prop. 2019;22:129–145. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jwip

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INTRODUCTION

The last decade has seen the emergence of national policies on the creative industry and its importance not only in

the national economy but also globally. The move from “cultural industry”to creative industry denotes a significant

and profound paradigm shift, from valuing the sector from purely its cultural value to the economic and financial

contribution to the economy (Garnham, 2005). Although the paradigm shift has invited strong criticism as it

devalues cultural and artistic production only in terms of monetary and financial value, but the inevitable shift has

been facilitated primarily with the world moving into information economy (Galloway & Dunlop, 2007). Globally,

the creative economy is a high growth sector and a major contributor to income generation, job creation, and

export earnings (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2014). The term creative industries comprise of a wide

range of creative activities such as traditional arts and crafts, publishing, music, film, television and radio

broadcasting, new media and design (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2008).

Malaysia has equally followed the bandwagon by identifying the creative industry as a new sector for economic

growth by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) as the New Key Economic Area (NKEA)

that will accelerate Malaysia into a high‐income country. As expressed in the PEMANDU Report, ‘communications,

content and infrastructure is no longer just an enabler to other industries but a new growth area for the country

and globally.

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For the year 2015, for example, the sector is targeted to achieve a total export of RM600 million. The

key organisations involved in the steering of the future of the creative industry includes the National Film

Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), Malaysian Development Corporation (MDec), the Malaysian

Commission and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), as well as Creative Content Industry Guild Malaysia (CCIGM)

and Creative Content Association Malaysia (CCAM).

The National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) as the body responsible for the promotion of

national films was set up in 1981 through a statutory legislation named Perbadanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional

Malaysia Act 1981.

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After PEMANDU identified the creative sector as one of the NKEAs, several new initiatives

were introduced. Among them were the establishment of the Creative Content Industry Guild Malaysia and the

Creative Content Association Malaysia. The Creative Content Industry Guild Malaysia was set up to represent the

industry practitioners. Supported by the government, the Guild carries heavy tasks including to conduct

certification process based on four main criteria: experience, contribution, skills, and achievement. The role of the

certification is to verify the ability of the members to be used as a measurement for seeking payment for any jobs in

the creative industry. The PEMANDU Report has also resulted in the establishment of Creative Content

Association Malaysia (CCAM) whose main task is the promotion and marketing of Malaysian content and creative

services to overseas markets.

In nurturing creative content, the copyright system has been identified as playing a crucial role. In the US, it is

considered as the foundation of the creative industry (USPTO, 2013).

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Malaysia's Copyright Act 1987 provides a

comprehensive protection for copyright works and is in conformance with international standards. However, the

key players in the Malaysian film and TV industry have repeatedly raised concerns that they have difficulty in

obtaining appropriate rewards accruing from their creation or contribution in the creative content despite having a

copyright system that is supposed to protect their rights. What are the underlying reasons for their discontent?

Why is the copyright system viewed as not safeguarding the rights of the content owners? Who actually benefits

from the copyright system if not the creators and contributors? The aim of this paper is to answer these questions.

The arrangement of this paper is as follows. The paper begins by examining the incentive theory, a theory that is

pivotal to the growth and evolution of modern copyright system in the world, before it moves to examine the type

of rights conferred to the various beneficiaries in the content industry under the copyright law. The second part of

the paper presents the research findings on the effectiveness of the copyright system in stimulating creativity and

productivity of the creative content industry. This is followed by a discussion on whether the copyright system is

beneficial to the key beneficiaries or not. The fourth part continues the discussion with an examination of the

regulations, incentives and policy measures that are implemented to support the creative content industry. With

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