Parliament, Tuesday, 15 August 2017 – The Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry today continued its public hearings on the Copyright Amendment Bill, which is directly linked with the Bill of Rights. Several presentations were made including from Aspire Art Auctions, the Department of Science and Technology and a number of South African music composers.
Committee Chairperson, Ms Joanmariae Fubbs, said the Bill seeks to align existing, outdated copyright legislation with the digital era and developments at a multilateral level as well as “to protect but not over-protect, which harms creativity”. The Bill also seeks to promote the authors, artists in the broadest sense to include sculptors and musicians. “However it is clear that there is a need to guard against the ‘one size fits all’ principle,” she added.
The Bill furthermore aims to ensure effective governance, social protection, employment and among others the encouragement of innovation and reduction of inequalities within creative industries. The Bill also seeks to address the challenges faced by authors and creators of copyrightable works, in particular to ensure that their economic interests and rights are not abused, and to balance the rights of copyright owners with access by the public.
Following the presentations and the engagement of the Committee with the presenters Chairperson Fubbs pointed out that it was imperative that departments dealing with legislation in the same field should consult with each other before bringing Bills to parliament. She welcomed the professional presentation by the Department of Science and Technology as well as their proposals but added that “it is important for both departments to consult with each other prior to tabling legislation in parliament, after all we are not a federal government”. She also requested the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure it had detailed discussions with the Department of Science and Technology to assist in overcoming some of the non-alignments.
During the hearings issues raised included the value of legislating an artist’s resale right for artwork, concerns around copyright ownership of state funded works and the impact of fair use and other clauses on the livelihoods of composers.
The Committee welcomed the oral submissions from stakeholders and would consider these matters in its deliberations. The Committee will receive the Department of Trade and Industry’s response to all submissions received on Friday, 18 August 2017. It will begin its deliberations on the Bill thereafter.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND INDUSTRY, MS JOANMARIAE FUBBS
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