VietNamNet Bridge – Websites that breached the Miss World 2008 copyright will be strictly punished, said the chief inspector of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Vu Xuan Thanh.

RAAS Chairman Hoang Kieu and Miss World 2008 Kseniya Sukhinova

Thanh said the violators may also have to compensate VTV for advertising losses.

Hoang Kieu, Chairman of RAAS Group, which provided the broadcast right of Miss World 2008 pageant to VTV, said the case won’t affect the plan to organise the Miss World 2010 pageant in Vietnam.

He said RAAS and the Miss World Organization would have to discuss more about copyrights when the event is held in Vietnam. However, the host country has the right to broadcast programmes related to the contest in its territory.

In the afternoon on December 13, Stephen Douglas, Event Director of Miss World, said that VTV would be allowed to broadcast live the final night of Miss World 2008 on VTV3. Hoang Kieu informed Nguyen Thanh Luong, Director of the Television Advertising-Service Centre (TVAd), but Luong said VTV couldn’t re-change its broadcasting schedule.

According to Luong, RAAS’ announcement came too late and it was not in written form so the VTV Editorial Board couldn’t change its broadcasting schedule.

(Source: Dat Viet)