Cedro, the association in charge of managing the copyrights of authors and publishers of books, magazines, newspapers and sheet music, has launched the campaign 12 Reasons to Respect Intellectual Property, #12reasons, whose objective is to promote responsible access to written culture. Throughout the year 2023, the entity will present monthly one of the reasons why it is necessary to respect copyright when creations are consumed.
“Our goal is to bring intellectual property closer to the population. Despite the fact that the legislation is very clear in this regard and the right to intellectual property is regulated, practices that are harmful to authors still persist in our society, but that also harm the rest of society by putting them at certain risks when accessing works and that, unfortunately, end up becoming habits”, explains the general director of Cedro, Jorge Corrales.
Despite this, Corrales assures that “this campaign seeks the complicity of society as a whole with culture and its creators and is born with a positive spirit” and adds: “If we explain in simple and close language that the sustainability of our culture , our creators and our publishers depends on the responsible consumption of the works, it is likely that the number of users -ordinary citizens, companies, educational and research centers, public administrations, institutions, etc.- who recognize the original works, that is to say, there will be less those who violate copyright”.
The general director of Cedro trusts that this didactic effort will serve to modify certain habits installed in society and considers that “It is necessary for all of us to be clear that, if we want to enjoy culture and knowledge, we must legally access the works through of those that are disseminated and fairly remunerate their authors for their creative effort and publishers for their work, regardless of whether we use them in digital or paper format or whether we do so in an individual capacity or in an educational institution, company or other type of organization.
The campaign has a website that will grow each month, to which interested persons will be able to subscribe in a few days to receive the published reasons on their messaging channels and thus contribute to the dissemination of messages. “Our wish is that the level of awareness with this campaign is so high that users also become transmitters of the message, collaborators with the writers, translators, journalists and editors of our country,” says the CEO of Cedro.
The first of the published reasons refers to intellectual property as the basis for the sustainability of culture. «The ultimate goal of Cedro’s activity is to promote the sustainability and progress of culture and knowledge, protecting the legitimate interests of authors and publishers. It is important that we convey the message that copyright allows creators and publishers to be fairly remunerated so that they can continue to generate new culture and knowledge, from literary works (novels, poetry, theater,…) and didactic and scientific-technical materials to articles in a newspaper or magazine, print or digital. Without copyright, culture would end up becoming extinct”, warned Jorge Corrales, who encourages citizens to join this Cedro campaign through their social networks.