Following meetings between artistes and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the past weeks, various artistes leaders have come out to shed more light on the key issues being presented to the minister.
Among those is Ms. Jane Nambasa, the Chief Executive Officer Uganda Federation of Movie Industry who came out to further support the ammendment of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act of 2006.
“We need this act to be amended to enable the smooth management of Rights in the digital era” Nambasa said.
Nambasa made the remarks during a high level meeting with Honorable Nobert Mao, Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Hon. Peace Mutuuzu, state Minister for Gender, Labour and social development while meeting representatives from the Creative Sector, and other MDI’s to discuss the proposal to amend the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2006 at the ministry of Justice.
According to her, in relation to the Audio visual sector where she belongs, they used to watch films fixed on DVDS/ CDs but today, there is live streaming of this content with alot of Audio visual works shared and consumed on social media.
“There is a need for inclusion of the Private Copy Levy ( PCL) to ensure rights owners are compensated for the use of their works” she advised.
It should be noted that the act in question is very silent of the treatment of Neighboring Rights owners when it comes to remuneration yet they equally contribute to the production of the works, in this case the audio Visual sector is excluded.
Nambasa explains that all this must be put into consideration and the best solution is to amend the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act for inclusion.
In addition, she notes that in the collective management of works, there is need for extended licensing where collection of royalties is done for members and none members. “This makes licensing inclusive to the benefit of rights owners, assured security for users of works and effective collection of royalties by the CMOs” she said.
At the helm of these discussions, a technical adhoc committee was created to prepare a brief with material and recommendations to be presented to the President so he can pronounce himself on fundamental changes in this matter once and for all.
