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Submission To South African Parliament's Portfolio Committee On Trade And Industry - Re: Copyright Amendment Bill [B13b - 2017], Global Expert Network On Copyright User Rights

Testimony and Submissions

This submission is on behalf of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights. The Network is an association of over 100 copyright academics from over 30 countries who conduct research and offer technical assistance to governments and stakeholders on the reform of copyright limitations and exceptions to promote the public interest.

Professor Sean Flynn, Counsel of Record, is a former Law Clerk for the late Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Cape Town IP Unit, and has been conducting research and leading academic projects in South Africa for over two decades. …

Reforming The Right To Remuneration In The South African Copyright Amendment Bill, Malebakeng Agnes Forere

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

One of the core goals of South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill is to provide a right to fair remuneration for all authors and performers. This objective was motivated by the experiences of numerous famous South African creators who, despite their success in the creative industry, died as paupers. The problem that the Bill seeks to address is that the distributors of copyrighted work are dominated by multinational monopolies that are able to exact enormous concessions in their contracts with South African creators. Among the tools to address this problem in the Bill is a new right to a “fair royalty” …

The Domestic Effect Of South Africa's Treaty Obligations: The Right To Education And The Copyright Amendment Bill, Sanya Samtani

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

On 16 June 2020, the President of South Africa returned the Copyright Amendment Bill [B-13 of 2017] to Parliament, expressing reservations regarding its constitutionality and compliance with international law. In this paper, I describe the constitutional implications of compliance with international law and the binding international obligations incumbent upon South Africa in respect of copyright and international human rights law. In doing so, I argue that the Bill of Rights acts as a magnet, compelling all organs of state to give greater normative weight to those international obligations that map onto the Bill of Rights as compared to those …

Analysis Of Woods And Myburgh Comments On Cab, Jonathan Band

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

On June 16, 2020, President Ramaphosa of the South African Republic referred the Copyright Amendment Bill (“CAB”) back to the National Assembly on the grounds that he had reservations concerning its constitutionality. In his referral letter, President Ramaphosa stated that the CAB may be in conflict with international intellectual property (IP) treaties South Africa had joined or was planning to join. CAB opponents’ arguments that the CAB is incompatible with IP treaties are based largely on comments prepared by Michele Woods, Director of the Copyright Law Division of the World Intellectual Property Organization, in 2018. Woods prepared these comments as …

What Role Can Regulations Play? A South African Public Law Perspective On The Potential Response Through Regulations To Constitutional Reservations About The Copyright Amendment Bill, B-13b Of 2017, Jonathan Klaaren

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This working paper addresses several issues in South African law relevant to determining whether and to what extent regulations may address genuine problems in the Copyright Amendment Bill [CAB]. Regulations are of course not yet drafted for this Bill and the Bill remains a Bill and is not yet an Act. Indeed, as discussed further below, the Bill is currently under consideration in Parliament as part of a section 79 process. In addition to its focus on the CAB, this paper identifies a set of emerging South African public law issues associated with similarly situated legislation.

After a background section …

Untold Stories In South Africa: Creative Consequences Of The Rights Clearance Culture For Documentary Filmmakers, Sean M. Flynn, Peter A. Jaszi

PIJIP Faculty Scholarship

This report summarizes research on the perceptions of South African documentary filmmakers about copyright clearance requirements and the effect of such requirements on their work. This work was performed in the context of a larger project exploring how lessons learned from “best practices” projects with documentary filmmakers in the U.S. can help their counterparts in other countries identify and overcome barriers to effective film making posed by escalating copyright clearance requirements.

Untold Stories In South Africa: Creative Consequences Of The Rights-Clearing Culture For Documentary Filmmakers, Peter Jaszi, Sean Flynn

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This report summarizes research on the perceptions of South African documentary filmmakers about copyright clearance requirements and the effect of such requirements on their work. This work was performed in the context of a larger project exploring how lessons learned from “best practices” projects with documentary filmmakers in the U.S. can help their counterparts in other countries identify and overcome barriers to effective filmmaking posed by escalating
copyright clearance requirements.