Comments on: SA copyright law under fire

By: Denise Nicholson

Denise Nicholson — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:45:44 +0000

Also see: “Unintended Consequences: Twelve Years under the DMCA ” – http://www.eff.org/wp/unintended-consequences-under-dmca

By: Denise Nicholson

Denise Nicholson — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:38:51 +0000

Yes, indeed the SA Copyright Act needs to be amended urgently, but it has to cater to the needs of a developing country. We are not a developed country, although we try to imitate many of them at various levels. What is sadly missing in our copyright law is appropriate and adequate limitations and exceptions for education, research, libraries, and persons with sensory-disabilities. Without such limitations and exceptions, introducing technological protection measures (which are already provided for without limitations or exceptions in our ECT Act, 2002) or any other added protections into our copyright law, such as traditional knowledge works as an additional category of work (as being proposed in the Intellectual Property Amendment Bill, 2009 by the Department of Trade and Industry) will just land up ‘locking up’ more information and shrinking the public domain everymore. South Africa is part of the Africa Group and a strong supporter of the WIPO Development Agenda. It should therefore be taking these issues into account back home. Readers are referred to the research findings of the African Copyright & Access to Knowledge (ACA2K ) Project which show that copyright laws in 8 African countries are restricting access to knowledge. Because of this, copyright infringing activities, and not copyright legislation, are currently facilitating access to knowledge in South Africa and other African countries. See: http://www.aca2k.org

By: Editor

Editor — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:47:24 +0000

Thanks for your criticism, Guy. I agree with you, of course. Time pressure is not an excuse. The plan is to do a follow-up interview with the DTI. I’ve also already invited an expert in the subject to write a counterview.

By: Guy Berger

Guy Berger — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:50:36 +0000

This article is rather problematic, as it takes the source at face-value, and leaves us wondering what the point of view is of the Department of Trade and Industry. It would have been far better if the journalist had have succeeded in providing us with the other side(s) of the story. We’re left wondering what axe is being ground here, and what the full picture is.

By: Andrew Rens

Andrew Rens — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:18:54 +0000

Mr Heydenrych, with respect, Dr Dean is not proposing updating the law in favour of consumers, instead he said: “SA, being the sized country we are, really has to follow in the footsteps of the majors, and we’re not doing that. If the footsteps turn out to be less effective than originally envisaged, then so be it.”
The steps taken in the USA at the behest of the recording industry have not turned out well, there has been considerable abuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which is the type of legislation being urged by Dr. Dean.
The commentators aren’t opposing improvement of the law but they are expressing what is well known in technology circles, that anti-circumvention provisions are not an improvement.

By: Frank Heydenrych

Frank Heydenrych — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:36:42 +0000

Replying on behalf of Dr Owen Dean: “I have read the comments on my article with interest, but I think that some of the correspondents may be missing my point. I say that our copyright law is frozen in the nineties and is badly in need of updating. That is not to say that the updating must necessarily favour the copyright owners. If the wind is blowing in the direction of the consumers in the real world, so be it, but then let the law reflect that situation and not be trapped in a time warp, as it currently is. No-one is benefiting from the present neglect.”

By: Philipp Schmidt

Philipp Schmidt — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:07:37 +0000

The proposal put forward in this article is good for companies who own large amounts of content (most of which are not in South Africa) and lawyers specializing in Intellectual Property Law (the author of the article). The proposal is not good for consumers and artists in South Africa.

Dean indicates that he has no interest drafting law that would reflect the social norms enabled by recent technological developments, or take into account the particular socio-economic context in South Africa. He suggests rather we blindly copy what others are doing. He fails to acknowledge that this would show our legal system failing us in the most fundamental way.

By: Pria Chetty

Pria Chetty — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:02:07 +0000

Simply implementing the DRM provisions may limit freedoms such as the right to use a work for learning related purposes and diminish the body of available and accessible learning resources.

This issue is complex. Updating copyright law is essential but the update must be balanced, and informed by more than industry requirements. In addition to review mentioned by Steve Song, have a look at http://www.aca2k.org “The African Copyright and Access to Knowledge” project’s website. A report with detailed findings on SA copyright law is also available from the website.

By: Steve Song

Steve Song — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:30:17 +0000

Don't you think that shilling for the music corporates is a trifle undignified? Anyone interested in a more balanced assessment of SA copyright law might enjoy reading this review. Full disclosure, it was funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation.

By: Wogan

Wogan — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:13:21 +0000

In a country where government officials openly steal, mismanage their departments, and start drug-trafficking rings, you really think they give a flying kidney about copyright law?

~ Wogan

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:28:47 +0000

The SA Copyright Act must be changed to keep up to date with technological developments. Many people can no longer play their vinyl records either due to aging technology, the inability to obtain a stylus, affirmative shopping, and the like, and come to me to get me to digitize the contents of the LPs to CD. What’s wrong with that? CDs are not available in CD shops. Even if they were, it’s probably not the same group, same singers, same orchestra, same conductor, same cast, as to that which the listener is accustomed. The old copyright act in South Africa must be altered to allow the creation of at maximum ONE backup copy of the owner’s vinyl without any hint of prosecution for the person digitizing the music, or the person requesting the service to be done.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:06:31 +0000

What I took away from this article is that if I pirate South African music, there’s nothing they can do to bust me? Or is it all music sold in South Africa?

If that’s the case, this is the most useful article EVER on TechCentral.

By: Dwayne Bailey

Dwayne Bailey — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:11:51 +0000

Anti-circumvention is great technology, it turns people who actually buy stuff into criminals. Ever bought a regionally encoded CD with good money and you can’t play it, yes I feel the love. Anti-circumvention conveniently ignores the fact that rights that consumers have are removed.

My understanding is that WIPO doesn’t include the anti-circumvention things. Its the lovely behind closed doors discussions, trips+, etc that do. I can’t trust something that fails at WIPO then gets pushed into local legislation through US trade negotiations. It puts the whole copyright issue in a different light, things gets forced into place that are not in the interest of society but purely the short term interests of an industry that claims to represent artists.

Most of these issues point to an industry out of touch with what consumers want. We have an industry supported by lawyers painting pictures of starving rights owners. We hear very little from society. Isn’t society the people who actually give any value to these rights? Ask anyone who wrote a song or book that nobody wants, those rights are worth nothing. Where are our rights?

By: Paul Jacobson

Paul Jacobson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:55:21 +0000

Simply implementing these anti-circumvention mechanisms isn’t necessarily the best option. I haven’t reviewed them yet but many of these sorts of initiatives are driven by an industry intent on a particular model and not updating the law to cater for new developments.