Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Mok Ian Ian told reporters at the weekend that the bureau would purchase the copyright and give the designer credit after plagiarism was discovered in the poster design of Cantonese opera “The Soul of Macau”, a show presented by the bureau for the upcoming Macau Arts Festival (FAM).
The case came to light after local Chinese-language media reported the suspected plagiarism last week, based on tip-offs by local designers.
Mok made the comments while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event at Mandarin House on Saturday.
“The Soul of Macau” is an adaptation of an original play written by Mok herself, and has been picked as the closing performance of this year’s 30th FAM.
Mok said that the bureau had already contacted the designer of the original image to apologise for the incident.
According to Mok, the bureau’s design staff gathered reference materials when they were searching on the Internet for Cantonese opera poster designs, and they admitted to using some of the reference materials in the poster design for “The Soul of Macau”.
“The [original designer] has accepted our explanation and apology, [the designer] was friendly when we contacted him,” Mok said, adding the bureau would be purchasing the ownership rights to the copyrighted image from the original designer, and would give the designer credit.
Mok did not say how much the copyright would cost, but pointed out that the bureau’s design staff would be subjected to an official inquiry.
“This matter will give a warning to our staff, so as to avoid similar issues from happening again,” Mok said, stressing that the bureau respected each and every designer and design, and was complying with the principles for the use of copyrighted materials, and that designers should follow professional ethics.(Macaunews)
