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Artists Suffer As Copyright Act Gathers Dust
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2004 11:15 am    Post subject: Artists Suffer As Copyright Act Gathers Dust Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

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Artists Suffer As Copyright Act Gathers Dust

Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)
March 21, 2004
Posted to the web March 22, 2004
Henry Makiwa

FOUR years ago Zimbabwean lawmakers drafted what they thought was a noble
legislation that would protect artists' rights on their works and curb the
rampant piracy that has been a cancer to local art.

Though the statute went through all three mandatory readings in parliament
and was set before President Robert Mugabe, awaiting his ascent to pass as
law, the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act of 2000 still lies gathering
dust somewhere in the offices of the authorities much to the chagrin of
artists.

StandardPlus Editor Henry Makiwa examines why artists are so embittered:
DESPITE the growth and evolution of Zimbabwean art in the past two decades,
the country's creative productions in music, theatre, writing, painting,
sculpture and film remain 'safeguarded' by an archaic and insufficient 1967
Copyright Act which has been overtaken by developments in the industry.

Though artists have repeatedly expressed bitter misgivings towards the
authorities' failure to enact legislation that would ensure effective
protection of their works, their voices have remained unheeded 24 years
after the country's independence from Britain.

According to entertainment law expert Witness Zhangazha, much has already
been lost but the country's arts industry can salvage something if proper
copyright legislation is enforced.

"We are sliding on a very slippery and dangerous slope with each day that
passes without the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights' Act of November 2000,"
Zhangazha says wistfully.

"Already some provisions of the Act are getting outdated .... this is as
good as having a father who buys the latest Mercedes Benz vehicle for his
family but denies them the pleasure of a ride by parking the vehicle for
years such that the family watches it rust away," said Zhangazha.

Efforts to contact officials in the justice ministry's legal research and
development department proved futile, while Fidelis Maredza of the
government's Office of the Controller of Intellectual Property was mum on
the issue.

According to information gathered by StandardPlus, Mugabe may have approved
the Act but the onus is on him to set the exact dates for the proposed
legislation to become law.

This is however in sharp contrast to the swift attention the aging leader,
now 80, gave to the widely condemned Public Order and Security Act and the
muzzling Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act soon after his
controversial re-election in 2002. Both notorious laws are seen as party of
Mugabe's quest for political survival.

The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights' Act passed in Parliament in 2000
however remains dormant despite the numerous benefits to local art of all
genres.

"Since this law will cover all areas of art, I suspect the reason why the
government is not enacting it is because they will be forced to spend a lot
of foreign currency," says renowned music critic and chairman of the
Academic Committee at the Zimbabwe College of Music, Freddy Zindi.

"Copying of texts in schools for example will be outlawed under the Act.

"However, we in the music industry desperately need an internationally
respected and accessible copyright act. At the moment musicians are being
ripped off even by the national broadcaster (ZBC) which sells our music
videos to foreign television networks across the region without the
artistes' consent. This is unlike in countries like South Africa and the UK
where they have independent regulatory bodies," said Zindi.

In the widespread cases of piracy artists, especially those in the visual
arts, lament the loopholes in the existing legislation saying the law is
largely inefficient as the penalties are often minor.

In 2002 prolific sculptor Dominic Benhura dragged art dealer Newman Shoddies
before the courts for exporting counterfeit pieces bearing his signature to
European galleries. Shoddies was found guilty but walked away with a $400
fine.

"If a new law with harsher punishment for copyright and piracy culprits was
enforced it would not only protect our work but add value to art," says
sculptor Joe Mutasa.

"At the moment anyone can copy another's work knowing that they will get off
with a mere fine. In sculpture all the big names have fallen victim to
piracy, ask anybody: Bonnier, Agnes Nyanhongo, Eddie Mutasa, Nicholas
Mukomberanwa and even myself," bemoaned Mutasa .

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