[kictanet] copyright infringment / theft vs local content value

Wed Aug 11 12:39:52 EAT 2010

finding a right balance between the rights of right holders on the one hand ( authors in many instances give away their copyright to intermediaries) and the rights of users on the other hand is the challenge. 

here is a study conducted by the African Copyright and Access to Knowledge project (ACA2K) in eight countries in Africa including Kenya looking at the relationship between the copyright environment and access to knowledge with learning materials used as a proxy. What is clear, is that we don't need stronger copyright laws, on the contrary all study countries afford copyright protections that exceed minimum standard of international treaties. One wonder why this is the case when our libraries are suffering from low budget constraints and our students are not able to access the journals and books they need. In Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique and Senegal, the copyright term for literary and artistic works has been extended to 70 years after the death of the author, a term 20 years longer than the international standard. Moreover copyright laws are untested and do not adequately respond to the digital environment to facilitate learning and access. The ACA2K networks has suggested concrete policy recommendations including the type of exceptions and limitations that could best support our higher education needs. 

More on this through this Link: (the comparative review is an interesting read: chapter 10 ACA2K book) 

http://www.aca2k.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=179&Itemid=61&lang=en

A study in the US, estimated that 1 out of 8 workers are employed in an industry that benefit from fair use provisions and that fair use industry accounts for 1/6 of US GDP. 

http://www.ccianet.org/CCIA/files/ccLibraryFiles/Filename/000000000354/fair-use-study-final.pdf

Whether strong Intellectual Property protection induces creativity and innovation or whether it will impede it, a question worth further investigation.....

best wishes
khaled 

_____________________________________
Khaled Fourati
Senior Program Officer ICT4D Acacia program
International Development Research Centre

Mail: IDRC C/O Development Bank of Southern Africa
PO Box 1234, Halfway House
1685, Johannesburg, South Africa

Courrier: IDRC C/O Development Bank of Southern Africa
1258 Lever Road, Headway Hill
Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Tel: + (27) 112 563 531
Fax:+(27) 112 563 534
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From: kictanet-bounces+kfourati=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke [kictanet-bounces+kfourati=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Badru Ntege  [ntegeb at one2net.co.ug]
Sent: August 11, 2010 4:32 AM
To: Khaled Fourati
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'
Subject: Re: [kictanet] copyright infringment / theft vs local content value

Andrea
I think it's important to differentiate between content and the delivery platform: A story on, say, diamond mining is a story on diamond mining. You can deliver it as a radio piece, a video (via internet or TV) or a written piece (via print or internet) or as a combination thereof. 'Multimedia' merely means a combination of the above (i.e. includes the written word), and that's not really specific to Africa. Look at newspapers or magazines with a website, print edition, and possibly a TV show.
[] Fully agree however we also need to cater for the literacy levels and also the diversity in languages.   Multimedia helps us reach more now while we address the literacy challenge.

Finally: I wouldn't dismiss copy right protection entirely as stifling. Yes, the internet makes copyright enforcement a lot more difficult, but I think it's still a legitimate question to ask whether people who have put a lot of effort into a piece of work should not be able to enjoy the income from it.
[]
I agree with you here too but proposing that technology has made the traditional methods of making sure copyright owners are rewarded too difficult and an unenforceable law is not worth having.  Let us look at the methods that some of this copyrighted material is distributed and maybe collect from these resources.  One could argue that communication companies both Broadcast and Telecoms have some licensing and regulatory authority which collects allot of funds from the operators.   Why do we not make sure that some of these funds are distributed to these copyright owners.  For example most Telco’s are using ring back tones without paying the owners.  (brain storming and thinking out loud so feel free to shoot me down on this ☺)

regards

Regards, Andrea
On 11 August 2010 07:52, Badru Ntege <ntegeb at one2net.co.ug<mailto:ntegeb at one2net.co.ug>> wrote:
Hi All

I’m posting this on both I-network (UG) and Kictanet (KE) to continue and expand dialogue that has been going on within the Linux User group mailing list in UG.

A few weeks ago I shared a website that we have been working on as an experiment on local content.  This website presents an archive of broadcast content from about 16 local radio stations going back to the beginning of 2010.  http://www.yradio.ug/

I firmly believe that Africa’s local content will be mainly multi-media as opposed to the written word.   This goes back to our heritage where our history has been mainly through story telling passed down from generation to generation as opposed to our European cousins,  where the written word goes back for many generations.

However the multimedia might fly in the face of what I call historical IPR and Copyright legislation.  I do believe that this legislation needs to be reviewed in favour of the current times where the traditional methods are unenforceable.

On the international scene African nations are being forced to adopt some of this legislation which I do believe will stifle innovation and growth.

For Kenya I understand that  Kenya Music Copy Right Association  has been in place and collects from those who play music from local artists.  I would like us to look at what has happened to that industry in the last few years since this was put in force.   In the late 90’s  early 2000’s Kenya local music was  dominant in the region.  However the industry has not grown as it should have and has been overtaken by other markets like Uganda where strict enforcement does not exist and the most frequently played music is local ugandan music.

Some have said that what yradio is doing is theft.   I would like to here more views on this and also on the notion that our future content for the continent will mainly be Multi-media.

Regards

Badru

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