Tag: Copyright Amendment Bill

As technology continues to advance rapidly, governments worldwide are grappling with the need to regulate various aspects of the digital realm. South Africa, a leading economy on the African continent, has not been immune to this global trend.

In September 2022, the Copyright Amendment Bill was passed by the National Assembly – giving South African artists, creators and entrepreneurs more benefits and rights, including receiving adequate remuneration.

South African intellectual property (IP) legislation includes the Trademarks Act, Patents Act, Designs Act, Copyright Act and Plant Breeder's Rights Act. Each piece of legislation dealing with the particular IP right concerned, but is it all fit for purpose? 

South Africa’s flirtation with the idea that government should be allowed to expropriate private property without being legally required to compensate owners for it stands in stark contrast to the constitutional democracy we chose 26 years ago and is already doing great damage to the economy.

The Copyright Amendment Bill has caused great uncertainty in South African and global artistic and creative markets. The bill has gone through many revisions and attracted widespread criticism. Today, it awaits and has been waiting for President Ramaphosa’s signature for months. But the whole activity must be restarted due to government’s mishandling of the public participation process. If this is not done, the bill will lack the legitimacy that every government policy requires, particularly from the relevant constituency – in this case, innovators.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative has set the review hearings of South Africa’s eligibility under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for 30 January 2020. This underscores the urgency for President Ramaphosa to send the Copyright Amendment Bill back to Parliament before we lose out on R12 billion in South African exports to the US.

The National Council of Provinces should hang its head in shame after voting in support of the Copyright Amendment Bill. It took this devastating decision despite overwhelming opposition to and patent rejection of the Bill by South African creators and creatives from numerous affected industries – the very people that the Bill is ostensibly meant to protect.