You are raising excellent points Dick, and I fully support that this is not an "either or" decision. I just felt it could be useful to broaden the discussion a bit. But as a network we should certainly add our concerns and expertise when it comes to the actual lawmaking process. Many of us are already well-connected and this is a great opportunity to make our voice heard in our respective countries to facilitate sufficient access to knowledge and cultural goods more broadly.
Best,
Tobias
You're absolutely right Tobias that poor countries in Africa and elsewhere need to direct their efforts towards seeking an extension in WTO. That said, at this point, there is significant local interest in a number African countries likely to drive legal reforms notwithstanding WTO deadlines. As evident in a number of countries, copyright laws were amended/reformed to meet or exceed TRIPs long before they were required to meet TRIPs minimum standards. I think (and fear) such movements can easily tap into the SEACONET activities to justify changes to local legislation.
Now changes to the law isn't necessarily a problem but as Charles mentioned, most of these models laws have been good identifying what is currently missing (e.g. provisions for digital content/TPM, etc) but not nearly enough on Limitations and Exceptions (L&Es). The fact that a number of administrators, who in many countries are the originators of legal reforms, are actively involved and agreed on the 'model', there is a likelihood most of the agreed upon provisions will easily make it to draft bills and possibly into law (depending on presence or absence of a strong public scrutiny in a given country). The more reason the model law ought to be made public sooner rather than latter.
Dick
On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 5:18 AM, Tobias Schonwetter <tobias AT creativecommons.org> wrote:
Dear all:
what an interesting discussion! First of all, I second the request to get hold of the text of the SEACONET Model Copyright Law, and yes, absolutely, local needs and circumstances must be taken into account.
Secondly, I in fact wrote an email to Charles the other day which I think may also be of interest to this group as it may shift the direction of the discussion slightly. It was triggered by the statement on Nabotu's website that "[t] he [model] law is a welcome development in the sub-region as countries strive to align their national copyright laws with WTO-TRIPS before the 2013 deadline". One question in my view is whether LDCs should really aim to comply with TRIPS by 2013 - or should they not rather try to get the transition period for LDCs extended beyond July 2013? This is because many argue that the provisions contained in TRIPS do not benefit LDCs and developing countries. Therefore, the Third World Network, for instance, is currently considering submitting a joint request to the WTO TRIPS Council for an extension of the transition period (to comply with TRIPS obligations) that expires on 1 July 2013. In their view "[m]
aking a request for extending the transition period is critical, if LDC are to fully benefit from flexibilities available under the TRIPS agreement. LDCs are the most vulnerable countries, and face many challenges. An extension of the transition period will give LDCs the flexibility they need to address the numerous challenges they face such as access to medicines, access to knowledge, access to seed, access to environmentally sound technologies etc". Please note, however, that it is only the transition period for LDCs I am talking about as the transition period for developing countries has already expired and they are therefore already required to bring their laws in line with TRIPS.
Dear Charles,
we would appreciate if you can share the copy of the law as it seems its in 'hide' and those who have it from SEACONET are not willing to share untill it is final. I had a friend contact Serman from SEACONET who said the model law was adopted in their last meeting in Malawi and its now being finalised and cleaned, and will only be willing to share when its ready by the end of this month hopefully
Patricia
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From:
charles batambuze <batambuze_charles AT hotmail.com>;
To:
CC Africa <ccafrica AT lists.ibiblio.org>;
Subject:
Re: [ccAfrica] SEACONET Model Copyright law
Sent:
Mon, Oct 8, 2012 7:03:43 AM
I will share a copy of the law as soon as I receive it. Secondly, there are no guarantees that a model law will be adopted in its entirety by countries. That notwithstanding however, in the area of copyright, it might be useful to have national lobby teams well equipped to make a case for more flexibilities in the law and such other provisions that might make the law friendly. So perhaps a study of the economic impact of limitations and exceptions in any of the African countries would be a good starting point.
Charles
From: paulkih AT yahoo.comDate: Sun, 7 Oct 2012 22:44:15 +0300 To: gakuru AT gmail.com
CC: ccafrica AT lists.ibiblio.orgSubject: Re: [ccAfrica] SEACONET Model Copyright law I concur with you Alex and Dick that we should scrutinize and adopt these model laws while bearing in mind our local needs and circumstances since we have our own peculiarities.
In addition to that foreign imposed model laws at times have hidden agendas which in most cases would wish to suit the interests of multinational corporations at the expense of the poor Africans.
Any Model law has to be carefully scrutinized and adopted only where circumstances suits our prevailing environment otherwise it would be an absurd to adopt a model law which does not suit us. The example of Kenyan Public Procurement and Disposal Act has been the trend in most African states. We have seen several other laws such as the Model Industrial Property Law just to mention but few.
And let's not forget that a number of Africa's laws are drafted by outsiders and handed to legislators to
enact them. Consider, for example, recent comments on Kenya's Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005:
"The country's procurement rules are frustrating the smooth
implementation of government projects, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has
said. The premier criticized the current procurement laws, saying
that were imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
to curb financial irregularities at a time when corruption was rife in
the country, and hence have outlived their intended purpose." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd4edWI41M0
On copyright, Kenya has in the past witnessed state agencies, using public funds, enforce copyright crackdowns at the behest of multinational corporations. We need to read and scrutinize the proposed 'model' law to satisfy
ourselves that indeed they are not engineered to serve foreign copyright
holders interests while at the same time weakening local creatives
position and/or well-known African sharing culture, well resonating with
CC.
regards,
Alex
On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 10:07 PM, Dick Kawooya <dkawooya AT gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with Alex. It would help to see the model law itself so we know exactly what is being proposed. Beyond that, we've to be wary of attempts to harmonize laws across the board without due consideration for unique circumstances prevailing in different countries. Even in Africa, there are important nuances that might warrant local solutions not to mention regional ones (e.g. EAC). Besides, unquestionable harmonization from advanced economies is what many have been against in WIPO and elsewhere. Meeting WTO deadlines cannot be an excuse to harmonize across the board. Of course I can understand if participating countries will be encouraged to pick and choose what applies to them but presenting the model as the law for everybody to adopt. This is of particular concern given the participation of copyright administrators.
Dick
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