Criminal complaint against Drljević for intellectual property infringement

AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS

Ten employees of the Public Service Broadcasting Service have filed a criminal complaint with the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica against the President of the Council, Veselin Drljević, for a criminal offence against intellectual property, namely the infringement of the rights of authors and performers, and for copying 36 pages of the Master Plan of Montenegrin Tourism in his doctoral thesis, reports the ETV portal.

- Veselin Drljević presents himself to the Montenegrin public as a doctor and assistant professor. A simple look at the doctoral thesis "Perspectives of the Development of Sports Tourism in Montenegro" which he defended at Alfa University in Belgrade shows that he copied 36 pages of the Master Plan of Montenegrin Tourism published by the Ministry of Tourism of Montenegro in 2008 - the complaint states.

The media has reported on Drljević's doctoral thesis for years, but there has been no reaction from the competent state authorities, and in September last year the Ethics Committee of the University of Montenegro declared itself incompetent to determine whether Drljević plagiarized his doctoral thesis.

- In the “doctorate” from pages 103 to 138, the text from pages 33 to 64 of the Master Plan of Montenegrin Tourism is completely reproduced, with the paragraphs being changed by “taking away” the previous sentence or “giving the next one” so that they appear chopped up. Asked later to explain the textual identity of the documents we are mentioning, Veselin Drljević said that “no one would do that intentionally”. In addition, he attached a statement of authorship to the famous doctorate: that he did not use the copyrights of other persons and that everything is the result of his own research work – the application states.

Ten employees of the Public Service believe that this case must be given special attention because it was with the highest academic title that Veselin Drljević presented himself to the Administrative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, which elected him as a member of the RTCG Council, after which he was also elected as the president of that body.

The applicants recall that they previously addressed the Ethics Committee of the University of Montenegro, but that they did not respond to their appeals.

According to their opinion, in the case of Veselin Drljević, a criminal offense against intellectual property occurred, namely the violation of the moral rights of authors and interpreters under Article 233 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, item 2, which stipulates that "whoever publishes under his own name, in whole or in part, another's copyright work on the basis of which he is elected to a scientific or teaching-scientific position, shall be punished by a fine or a sentence of up to four years in prison."

The applicants are Srđan Čović, Snežana Rakonjac, Tanja Šuković, Mladen Vukčević, Vesna Banović, Slaven Knezović, Časlav Vujotić, Vesna Terić, Nataša Baranin and Žarko Božović.