The Copy/South Dossier

Nigeria
26 April 2007
Ayoyemi Lawal

PIRACY AND THE NOLLYWOOD MOVIE INDUSTRY

There was a time when the Nigerian community was nonchalant about piracy. Copying was no ‘big deal’. It was cheaper to buy a pirated copy rather than the original copy. It could be books, music or home videos, particularly the Hollywood movies. The Nigerian movie industry was not as popular as it is now in the 20th century. Copyright violation was condoned. Moreover, the technology used to copy during those days was not easily accessible within the Nigerian community.

Nigerian movies in the 1980’s had strong cultural contents. Apart from the Yoruba’s, the Ibo’s followed by the Hausa’s joined the movie industry. The boom of the Nollywood industry did not however come into existence until recently when English speaking actors joined the Nigerian movie industry and coined the word Nollywood. With Nollywood being in four different languages there is a wider audience.

Along with the Nollywood boom came stricter copyright laws within the Nigerian community. There is great concern that pirates of Nollywood movies are crippling the market. They are reaping were they did not sow at the expense of the actors and the producers. The use of the word piracy is no longer limited to the Western governments but has extended to the Nigerian government. Yes, pirates in Nigeria are classified as robbers and thieves and are treated as such. The war on piracy is in Nigeria on Nigerians.

The Director General (DG) of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has revitalized enforcement and public enlightenment actions under its Strategic Action Against Piracy (STRAP) launched by the Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005.1 It was from the DG of the NCC that I received my first original copy of a Nigerian music video. Honestly, it was better than the pirated copies which I was used to and was the same price. According to the NCC, piracy does not support creative enterprises and stops creative works from being profitable.

Therefore some of the schemes developed to discourage piracy are Copyright Notification, Video Rental and Hologram Scheme and the Optical Disc Regulation. Most importantly the sale and illegal distribution of copyrighted works is punishable under section 18(2) (a) and (b) of the Nigerian Copyright Act Cap 68 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 as amended. Pirated copies continue to be ceased and public burning continues to take place. For a country like Nigeria piracy has been declared an economic sabotage and an organised crime.

The view that ‘commercial pirates play a positive role in many parts of the South by enabling the distribution of low – cost technology, information and entertainment to millions of people who could not otherwise access or afford it’ has been flawed by the Nigerian situation.2 Nollywood movies are cheap and affordable in comparison to what is available in the western world. A Nollywood movie cost 200 Naira per disc which is the equivalent of less than a pound. The pirated copies are usually not cheaper and at times could be more expensive. Nevertheless it does not matter how cheap technology is millions of people particularly in Africa cannot afford it, even if it is worth less than a penny. Poverty is real in Africa. Therefore it is very important that the Nigerian government and people encourage creativity. It is about time Nigerians show the world their creative ability. The entertainment industry has become a gateway out of poverty for actors, musicians, comedians, producers, distributors and marketers in Nigeria and other West African countries like Ghana, Cameroon and Benin.

1 Nigerian Copyright Commission Bulletin, Volume 3 No. 6 December 2006
2 Copy South Dossier April 2006 72

USA

29 April 2007

Richard Stallman*

THE COPY/SOUTH READER RESPONSE PROJECT VS. WIPO'S IP DAY

I've been campaigning against unduly restrictive copyright law and its effects for almost 24 years, and I applaud your critique of copyright law and actions to call it into question.

It was good that you focused on copyright, resisting the tendency to lump copyright law together with other very different laws (This tendency is spread by the term "intellectual property").

I would like to suggest one further thing you can do to help others resist it too. Namely, you could point out that the term "intellectual property" spreads bias and confusion, and urge people to reject that term as well as what WIPO says about it.

* See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html for more explanation of this point.

France

4 June 2007

Nicholas Bentley

MY RESPONSE TO THE COPY SOUTH DOSSIER

I found the Copy South Dossier a valuable resource. So much to consider that I was not able to take it all in one sitting and I have to return to it again and again like any good reference book.

Two aspects came to mind as I was reading: First, while the plight of the global south is far worse than for most of us northerners and they are in a weaker position to fight back against the powerful lobbies in the north I could not help feeling that the issues affect us all. More and more all of us have to get permission to access and to share knowledge and surely this is not a good thing.

Second, it appears to me that positive action can be taken even if reforming intellectual rights and associated treaties is an uphill task. The drive to provide free software rather than propriety systems is one example. Another example, that I was pleased to read about for the first time in the dossier, was about organizations such as the Free Curricula Center producing educational materials. Maybe this is a way forward; more people taking positive steps to make information freely available.

Thanks to the Copy South Research Group.

USA

29 april 2007

Verbos

VOICE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

I am glad to hear that another organization is fighting to save the free access to knowledge and technology. The battle is not just for developing countries however.

Currently about 1% of the world population own all copyrights and patents. This is proof enough that copyrights and patents are bad. Though they are not intended to create monopoly, the fact is that they have on a global scale. Because of the rampant abuse of copyright and patent laws I feel that all copyright and patent laws should be simply abolished! I have personal knowledge from my own studies and experience that technology exists which would improve the lives of every person on the earth, but the holders of copyright and patents would no long maintain their monopolies if people were allowed to learn and use these advances in technology freely. The owners of copyright and patents seek no less than to be the Slave Masters of the world.

I feel that every person on earth deserves the right to acquire knowledge and use it to the limit of their ability so long as it is not used to harm or oppress others.

We don't need to be one country, one race, one religion, one language, or one culture. We do need to be ONE VOICE on the issue of oppression and abuse of power.

I am pleased that the truth is now coming out. People all over the world are becoming more aware primarily due to the Internet. There is a great reprisal brewing here by the elite. Being exposed is making them desperate. There are attempts to change the Internet to control its' content. The CIA is trying to take control by force. They want all the route keys. I fear we are in for a storm. Perhaps large databases should be built and filled with all the knowledge available now while it is still available. My government has placed itself above the Law.

Finland

28 April 2007

Mikael Böök

NLOCKING THE GLOBAL INFORMATION FORTRESS*

Some years ago, the copyright term was extended from 50 to 70 years. I was reminded of this, again, when I read the notes from our Ghanaian colleague (See Emmanuel Mensah Darkey, in a previous note on the Copy South Readers Response Project).

Why did WE let that happen?

Originally, there was no copyright at all. Then, at the moment of its invention under Queen Anne of England at the beginning of the 18th Century, the term was 14 years, which was later extended to 28 years.

I do not say that copyrights should be abolished altogether. What we have got now, however is totally absurd, especially so, in our age of the digital revolution and the internet.

The answer to the WHY is that WE have let ourselves be brainwashed and scared. Copyright does not belong to the basic human rights. It is like taxes, something which can and should be continually discussed and agreed upon in democratic ways. Let's have the term of copyrights shortened to 30 years for a change! And, in the case of educational textbooks, let's have textbooks which are Copyleft, that is, freely copyable. Copyrights and Author's rights are different matters. The Author's rights need to be respected, and in this case there should be no end to the terms. The Author of a work remains its author for ever.

Finally, let us not forget about Users' rights, because WE have a special responsibility to defend our own rights.

* This title is taken from a World Social Forum workshop held in Nairobi in January 2007. This is a slightly edition of a note previously posted at the email list lib-wsf@sympa.kaapeli.fi the majority of the 90 list members are university librarians from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

USA
25 April 2007
Michael S. Hart*

WIPO DAY RESPONSE

I have spent my entire career in fear of copyright, and rightfully so... as it appears that copyright has been extended specifically for purposes of stopping my career, and those like it. This may sound a bit egotist, but I am quite sure that my efforts to create a world public library for the purpose of helping people turn parts of their "personal computer" to a "personal library."

Before Johannes Gutenberg average people could own zero books.

Before Project Gutenberg average people could own zero libraries.

This is the course of history I am trying to emulate. As I see it books changed the world as much or more than anything else in the last 500, or so, years, first creating a revolution in literacy, which, under a cruel tutelage of The Stationers Guilds, languished at ~1%. Then subsequently that literacy revolution created The Scientific Revolution, which created the technology for The Industrial Revolution.

Sadly, most historians do not have a perspective that includes 300 years of span for any events, so they fail to see the connections above.

Nonetheless, I am confident that eBooks, the focus of my career, will be the same kind of catalyzing force as books of The Gutenberg Press were-- and that we will see a global rise in literacy, following by scientific, followed by technology to create "The Neo-Industrial Revolution."

The Neo-Industrial Revolution will change Mass Production into to a Neo-Mass Production starting with eBooks, as eBooks are literally a new make and model of distribution... killing off the "Limited Distribution" few and replacing it with the "Unlimited Distribution" many... as anyone is capable of creating and distributing all the eBooks anyone could want.

WIPO sees this as "The End of the World" just as The Stationers Company, in past times, saw The Gutenberg Press as the end of their world.

Since they could not COMPETE with the new technology of Gutenberg, their course of action was to try to make it ILLEGAL.

I probably don't have the space in this forum to go into all the detail, but The Stationers lobbied through a dozen monarchies before they got in with a weak enough person, Queen Anne, to get their law passed.

Since then, we have been stuck with a copyright law that everyone would/could not sign from ~1460 to ~1710... 250 years of "NO" to a "YES" that stifled the world of books ever since.

In the U.S., where I live, we have had the following:

1830 High Speed Steam Printing Press Stifled by the 1831 U.S. Copyright.

1900s High Speed Electric Printing Press Stifled by 1909 U.S. Copyright.

1960's Xerox Machine Technology Printers Stifled by 1976 U.S. Copyright.

1990's Internet Publishing Technoogies Stifled by 1998 U.S. Copyright.

All in all we have had FIVE possible "Information Ages" and each one has been very carefully smothered by the intrusion of legal manipulations to keep it from bringing masses of information to the masses of people.

My own efforts with Project Gutenberg over the past 36 years have been a victim TWICE of these copyright manipulations that removed MILLIONS of a public domain library of books from being included on the Internet.

I have much more to say on this subject, and will, with encouragement.

Thank You!!!

Give the world eBooks in 2007!!!

*Founder, Project Gutenberg, Blog at http://hart.pglaf.org

UNA VISIÓN CRÍTICA DEL COPYRIGHT

Bolivia
24 july 2007
Luis Oporto Ordóñez*

El derecho de autor, el papel de las bibliotecas públicas, el rol de los bibliotecarios, el uso y acceso de la información y el conocimiento, son temas de insoslayable actualidad, especialmente si consideramos el viraje que ha dado el Sur en los últimos tiempos, haciendo suyo los paradigmas de equidad, justicia social, transparencia y libertad.

Temas escabrosos, sin duda alguna, de los cuales The Copy/South Research Group (El Grupo de Investigación Copia/Sur, conformado por un equipo de 23 profesionales de 14 países), se ocupa de forma crítica y con visión multidisciplinar (bibliotecarios, politólogos, antropólogos, economistas, activistas de software libre, abogados, algunos estudiantes postgraduados, etc), en un documento base de discusión, que es el resultado de 12 intensos meses de estudio e investigación, que encausó el Grupo de Investigación.

The Copy/South Dossier. Issues in the economics, politics, and ideology of copyright in the global south (Canterbury, University of Kent, U.K., 2006; 207 p.), circula en formato físico y electrónico, cuya lectura inicial ha motivado estas notas breves, para llamar la atención sobre la importancia del estudio.

En la introducción, refieren la historia del copyright, que se remonta al siglo XVIII, en la legislación inglesa, concebido como un régimen legal de protección de las obras escritas plasmadas en un soporte tangible. De esa forma, el titular del copyright (que no siempre es el autor) asumía derecho pleno de una serie de medios de uso y control de la obra protegida, tales como hacer las copias que viera conveniente, traducirla a otros idiomas, emplearla para publicidad, en fin, disponer de ella. Si bien al principio ese derecho se dirigía específicamente a la obra impresa, con el tiempo amplió su cobertura a mapas, obras de arte, música, registros fonográficos (incluyendo el casete y el disco compacto), fotografía, y más recientemente, software computacional, bases de datos y sus sucedáneos.

La mayoría de los países adoptó esta convención, concretizándola en la protección de la obra intelectual por medio de leyes. En el caso boliviano rige la ley 1322 (13.04.1992), reglamentada por el decreto 23907 (7.12.1994). La ley establece un límite al derecho de autor (único resquicio empleado por el público y los investigadores para usar las distintas formas de producción intelectual, sin infringir el copyright), pero este es sumamente restringido, y tan estrecho que dificulta enormemente el goce pleno del derecho de acceso a la información y el uso del conocimiento, lo que aparece como un contrasentido en los tiempos actuales, en el que los movimientos sociales expresan señales claras contra el estatus quo.

El cambio social que plantean los movimientos sociales a nivel global, explica que se hubiera fortalecido enormemente el uso de la Electronic Library and Information Science (E-LIS) o los e-prints almacenados  para su acceso abierto, bueno, bonito y gratuito , como señala uno de sus impulsores. [Una digresión forzada: E-LIS fue creado en 2003 como depósito de documentos especializados en bibliotecología y ciencias de la información (Library and Information Science), como producto de los proyectos Research in Computing, Library and Information Science (RCLIS) y Documents in Information Science (DoIS); promovido por el Ministerio Español de Cultura y alojado en los servidores del Consorzio Interuniversitario Lombardo per Elaborazione Automatica (CILEA). Es un trabajo voluntario y desinteresado, sin ánimo de lucro. Promueve la filosofía del Acceso Abierto (Open Access), emplea el software libre creado por S. Harnad y desarrollado en el Electronics and Computer Science Department de la Southampton University (UK) por Ch. Gutteridge con el apoyo de M. Jewell. Ver http://elisdocs.rclis.org/spanish].

Entre otros aspectos, el límite al derecho señala 50 años, a partir de la muerte del creador. Las actuales tendencias muestran su extensión a los 100 años. Otro aspecto controversial es, sin duda, el derecho de préstamo en las bibliotecas públicas, las que de acuerdo a la última jurisprudencia europea, ha gravado económicamente a las bibliotecas públicas europeas pagar un canon anual por el préstamo que realizan a sus usuarios, o suspender el servicio. Esta praxis que tiene una dosis de crueldad, llegará mas temprano que tarde a América Latina, asemejándose a una de las olas típicas del mundo globalizado, con consecuencias imprevisibles.

¿Dónde se sitúa, en este dramático contexto, la biblioteca pública y el bibliotecario? ¿Podrá la biblioteca pública latinoamericana soportar semejante gravamen? Al respecto se recomienda leer  Las Contradicciones éticas de las responsabilidades sociales en la bibliotecología de Zapopan M. Muela Meza (2006), y en ese mismo sentido el trabajo de Celso Martínez Musiño (2006)  El acceso a la información para los pobres y el rol de las bibliotecas en la reducción de la pobreza (http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00007942 / http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00007943)

Como están las cosas en el país daría la impresión que los bibliotecarios nos hallamos más cerca del segmento impresor-editor-librero que del autor/creador-usuario, dentro de la típica cadena productiva del libro. Y no solo en el país, si vemos el caso de Europa, en el que las bibliotecas públicas se han resignado a acatar y aplicar el gravamen al préstamo de libros.

Por otra parte, los réditos que genera el copyright (al menos en la generalidad), no favorecen tanto al autor, como al editor, y esta viene a ser una verdad de perogrullo. Es más, en muchos casos se incumple el derecho de autor que señala la propia ley, y se observa que la ley no es del todo clara con el autor, como ejemplo veamos el Artículo 31, que a la letra señala:  En todo contrato de edición deberá pactarse la remuneración o regalía que corresponda al autor o propietario de la obra, la que en ningún caso será inferior al diez por ciento (10%) del precio de venta al público. A falta de estipulación se presumirá que corresponde al autor o propietario dicho porcentaje . En la cultura editorial boliviana la praxis ha traducido ese derecho (cuando se cumple) en el 10% a secas (y no digamos nada de reimpresiones que se hacen sin conocimiento del autor).

¿En esas circunstancias, podría un autor vivir de su obra en Bolivia? Deben ser escasos los autores que alcancen una regalía superior a ese porcentaje, de hecho los hay, pero son la excepción a la regla. Mucha resignación existe entre los autores/creadores, que aceptan condiciones no equitativas frente el riesgo de mantener su obra inédita, condenada a la extinción, a una lenta agonía, pues sobre ese producto rige de forma inminente la ley de obsolescencia de la información de Bradford, o el inminente desfase con la coyuntura, e incluso con el proceso histórico.

El Dossier elaborado por el Copy/South Research Group, analiza estos y otros temas de innegable importancia. Es interesante anotar que antecede al mismo un cartel que muestra a una bibliotecaria, simbólicamente prontuariada, por haber obtenido fotocopias de diez libros destinados a una biblioteca escolar:
 DELINQUENT:
LIBRARIAN
I M A CRIMINAL BECAUSE
I PHOTOCOPIED TEN BOOKS
WE NEEDED FOR THE
SCHOOL LIBRARY

Con este proemio gráfico, el Expediente Copy/Sur trata críticamente aspectos relacionados a la economía, la política y la ideología del copyright en el Sur global. El impresionante Dossier, fruto de una investigación realizada por el Grupo de Investigación Copy/South, fue editado por Alan Story, Colin Darch y Debora Halbert. Si bien cuenta con el ISBN de rigor, tanto para la edición impresa en tinta, como electrónica, señalan claramente que su uso no está restringido por el copyright. En otras palabras, es de libre acceso y uso.

El expediente Copy/South (se obtiene escribiendo a contact @copysouth.org, tanto en formato impreso como en disco compacto, sin costo alguno) analiza cinco temas de fundamental importancia, a saber: 1) La privatización de la herencia cultural colectiva de la humanidad por el sistema global de propiedad intelectual, 2) La economía del copyright global: Flujo del capital neto desde la periferia global al centro, 3) Privatización del dominio público (patrimonio) e imposición de los criterios de occidente y del Norte en la producción cultural, 4) Barreras serias y perjudiciales en el uso de materiales protegidos por el copyright en países del Sur, y 5) Resistencia del Sur frente al sistema global de copyright.

El capítulo 6 trae reflexiones finales y algunas conclusiones del grupo de investigación, en las que señalan que el debate apenas inicia y que en el Dossier no han respondido del todo a tan complicadas cuestiones que han tratado, en las tres áreas de discusión: lo económico, educativo y cultural. Es más, nuevos temas de análisis se han generado al final. Por ejemplo, en el área educativa una de las metas que se ha fijado Naciones Unidas para 2015, es garantizar el acceso a la educación para todos los niños y niñas del mundo. Sin embargo, tan sentido anhelo está íntimamente ligado al acceso a lecturas y materiales librarios de excelencia. Pero, como señala el grupo, estos están bajo el copyright, que mediatiza su uso y acceso libre, por su propia naturaleza. Ante tal dilema, formas alternativas de producción de libros de texto, no han sido desarrolladas aun y requieren mayor análisis y estudio.

El Dossier incluye un inusual y notable vocabulario relacionado al copyright y a las organizaciones involucradas en el tema.

Para completar la información debemos mencionar que Alan Story, uno de los editores de The Copy/South Dossier, es Conferencista Senior en Leyes de Propiedad Intelectual de la Escuela de Derecho de la Universidad de Canterbury (Kent, Reino Unido); autor de  Diez Tesis sobre el Sistema Internacional del Copyright y el Sur Global , que presentó en diciembre de 2006 en las reuniones internacionales realizadas en noviembre de 2006 en Caracas (Venezuela) y junio de 2007 en La Habana (Cuba). Dictará una conferencia pública sobre el controversial tema en la ciudad de La Paz, Bolivia, el mes de septiembre de este año.

Si bien en Bolivia y otros países el tema ha sido motivo de interés en el pasado, es menester volver la mirada al espíritu de la ley que fue elaborada en una coyuntura de libre mercado, y estructurada al margen del componente social de la cadena libraria, en el que se debe privilegiar al usuario, tanto como al autor, cuidando un equilibrio justo con el editor y el librero.

Se torna mucho más urgente en nuestro caso pues están en la agenda próxima, la formulación de políticas públicas referentes a la Ley del Libro y al Sistema Nacional de Bibliotecas que se quiere construir en el país, aunque a ciencia cierta no se tiene idea clara de los nuevos roles  como los que se han señalado en estas notas que se deben asignar a bibliotecas y bibliotecarios, a fin de que ese actor social, responda con solvencia los desafíos de la actual coyuntura de cambio que se vive en Bolivia, y que están signados por el derecho a la información y al conocimiento, y por ello mismo, involucrados de forma innegable al copyright y sus efectos.

Tal parece que la lectura del The Copy/South Dossier, se torna en un instrumento obligado de consulta. La feliz noticia que nos proporciona A. Story es que para octubre de este año, se editará una versión en español.

* Historiador, archivero diplomado en España. Director General de la Biblioteca y Archivo Histórico del H. Congreso Nacional. Docente de la Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (La Paz) Reseña publicada originalmente por la Fundación Ciencias de la Documentación en http://www.documentalistas.org/colaboradores/firmas/p2/luis_oporto15.php

Kenya 2 June 2007

Isaack Rabin

WHAT IS THE WAY FORDWARD?

It is true that Copy South has not asked all the questions regarding copyright, neither has it given the way forward. Our experiences here in Kenya contradicts what Copy South is all about it, would be better enough if it would have given the way forward on copyright issue. 'Days of people illegaly reproducing creative works are numbered' that is what appeared on one of the daily news papers on 28th May. It was all about copyright. It stated that the 2001 Copyright Act was closing in on criminals who have been photocopying books and pirating music and videos without duly compensating original owners.

On May 31st was the dead line set by the government for all the operators of copying shops to have a licence that will allow them to reproduce published works, and an independet body has already been put in place by the government under this Act to monitor and to licence legal procedures to be applied in mass production of creative works. In addition the government intends to introduce new code labeling method 'the banderole' for all original works that will shield them from illegal reproduction this is an international security labeling method that will be used on CDs, DVDs, tapes and books. Any product without the code will be known to have been illegally produced and will be impounded, this will start rolling immediately after budget which will in normally read in parliament before 10th June. Furthermore afirm is to be put in place to develope the strategies on how a role will be applied on copyrights "the idea is to curb amorphous people engaging in illegal reproduction of people creative woorks without due regard to copyright procedures" that is is what the goverment side says. So for the guys from Copy South, what is the way forward?

INEVITABILITY OF COPYRIGHT LAW?

India
2 January 2008
G. Narasimha Raghavan*

Theological affiliations apart, Mark Twain s statement that,  Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law in the planet , is too tempting to be refuted, especially for the global South. If not, how can one make sense of most nations copyright periods extending to 50 or 70 years after the death of the author, when the harbinger of copyright, the Statute of Anne, awarded at the most 14 years of copyright protection after publication? This is one among the torrent of questions that the Copy/South Dossier raises. The dossier, a joint effort of number of academics and information activists,  seeks to provide backing to the argument that copyright laws imposed upon the global South have had, and will continue to have, a negative impact . Without mincing words, the editors predilection for the global South only adds value to the dossier in terms of its research commitment and accomplishment. With 50 odd papers written by leading academics and information activists, it has been no mean task for editors, Alan Story, Colin Darch and Debora Halbert, to put them together and give them a standardized dealing. The most important aspect of this dossier, next only to its appealing content, is the argumentative style and analytical approach.

The next consistent question would be to ask, why South? The global South (Asia, Africa, and Latin America, mostly) at one end has been obliterated from any meaningful discussion on the impact of international intellectual property rights regimes on it, and at the other end, it is the South that has been bearing the brunt of a global Copyright system, which has brought up the difficulty of understanding the rationale behind the facets of access to information versus payment for information predicament. Though the statement that the contemporary IPR regime itself is a superimposition on an otherwise  free sharing of information society can be warded off as standard fare, it is, nevertheless, essential to take cognisance of the incompatibility of West-mooted IP laws, lest it become a taken-for-granted part of the South. This makes resistance to the regime all the more crucial.

It is not without reason that the Orient and the Middle East are considered pioneers in fields like Mathematics, Astronomy or Surgery. The unconvincing stance of the copyright system seeks to replace this  culture of sharing with globalisation s upshot of a  culture of monopolisation and privatisation . The political orchestration of the powers that be, behind such discourteous operations can hardly be concealed. This has had many a repercussion:

" Preventing free speech
" Impeding cultural exchange and production of knowledge
" Unwarranted control of channels of communication (media)

A semantic analysis of the word  piracy , very often attributed to copyright infringers, does not attempt to capture the reality of breach, but rather attempts to inflict a pessimistic shade to the act, reminiscent of anarchic hooliganism. The currency term  copyright pirates has gained, reminds of Nathaniel Hawthorne s Scarlet Letter - only too obvious and at once disgusting. To accentuate South s anti-copyright attitude, piracy figures are churned out en masse. No economic logic exists behind the statistics on piracy, and its superfluous coverage in the media is only an act to secure  unwarranted authenticity and support.

Besides questioning the validity of the data, the dossier raises a slew of fundamental issues:

" Who should decide how much of a book can be photocopied? Or even, whether a publication can be photocopied at all?
" Why copyright in reality does not induce newer publications, but smothers innovation?
" Must access to information be the casualty in the digital era (visit www.copysouth.org)
" Can copyright protection safeguard traditional knowledge?
" Should  commodification of culture be allowed despite the commercial gains for indigenous communities?
" How appropriate is treating copyright infringement as an act of crime?

These and other value-loaded issues confront the reader and it is impossible to passively read the dossier.

The overarching themes of the dossier are in questioning the ideology / philosophy of copyright, its universal applicability and its manifestations in the global South. Apparently, the core argument spotlights the concern of inevitability of copyright law. The alternatives to the copyright regime suggested include the prominent Creative Commons licence or even the less known Waitangi Tribunal of New Zealand. There is enough for readers to contemplate on the alternatives hinted at - either within copyright law, outside it or even through it. It must be realized that recognizing that there is a problem in the South because of copyright law doesn t make one feel any better, unless the causes are delineated, which the dossier discharges. However, providing a solution is another dimension of the discourse, which is beyond the agenda of the dossier. If a reader is disappointed that the dossier does not  give a solution, but plainly  suggests alternatives, it is time to remember
Marc Bloch s insightful statement that  & there are times when for once the formulations of problems is more urgent than solutions&  . This, the dossier achieves.

* PhD Candidate, Dept. of Economics, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, email: gnr@vsnl.net

Pakistan

11 april 2007

Fouad Riaz Bajwa*

COPY SOUTH DOSSIER – A DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE DIGITAL COMMONS OF THE SOUTH – A REGION LOCATED ONLY 15 KILOMETERS AWAY FROM PLANET EARTH!

I shouldn’t just step-up and initiate criticism for something that has long been missing attention from the common man’s eye in the South. Various issues related to Intellectual Capital have been a great source of fortune making as well as pain in the developed world that are now soon to reveal their evil and ugly faces far more extensively and disastrously in the South in light of global modalities either in place or in their emergence. Every observation has either positive or negative sides and what may have seemed positive in one era tends to be surely negative in another. A major evil face has been that of the Closed Source or Proprietary Software world that I commonly refer to as ‘Public Domain Code and Process Hijackers’. They even have the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policies and international lobbying to support their endeavors. But all hope is not lost, the realization of the existence of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) development and collaboration paradigms and the impact that software has had on economic, political and developmental issues, has lead not only towards policy development with new forms of ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) governance in the developing world, but is setting ground in parallel for the evolution of a ‘Free’ and/or ‘Open’ Information Society.

Just to share an example of the state of affairs on both FOSS and IPR, today when I reconcile on our advocacy efforts for FOSS or struggle to initiate a localized Creative Commons Project for Pakistan, all is being done amongst a dilemma where we are positioned within a community that is unaware of what its rights in the Information Society are. Both the academia and civil sectors of society are alien to the concept of open or cultural production, alternate forms of intellectual property rights, making available learning materials and their research, knowledge and resources open to the public, freely in open formats so that people within the community irrespective of ethnicity, race, religion, political or economic situation and location can collectively learn as well as build new knowledge from that very small but very important contribution, that, has always been continuing the process of knowledge creation and transferring it to future generations through the public domain. Unless the people are aware of their rights or their freedoms as well as limitations, how will they be able to approach the public policy and legislation development activity?

The emergence of an Open Information Society in the region is still in its stage of infancy and the baby is yet to open its eyes to experience the light of true open knowledge and wisdom. In my personal view, the Copy South Dossier is not just a research publication, it’s a guide with each part presenting both extensive knowledge and narrating experiences that have happened or are to happen, as they say, there are signs for the wise and this publication is full of signs. Now, it is only a matter of understanding whether readers can benefit productively from such a contribution. On an ending note; as software code has witnessed hijacking while in the Public Domain from the commercial closed source world, the Internet itself is also composed of a software layer, is vulnerable too and may also witness the ‘Hijacking of the Internet’, my message, learn to open up, collaborate and share for the development of knowledge deeming the Copy South Dossier as your affective resource on how to do so! But at the same time, protect the public knowledge and domain from the Hijackers!

*Independent writer and researcher. fouadbajwa@gmail.com

Ghana

16 april 2007

Emmanuel Mensah Darkey*

PHOTOCOPY AND EDUCATION IN GHANA

The law of copyright generally grants the creator of an original work of authorship a set of exclusive legal rights to reproduce, distribute, display, or perform the work. These rights are granted to provide enough incentive to create original work. Copyright law is dynamic and it is undergoing many changes to keep pace with current technology.

Recently, Ghana enacted a new copyright act, which is more stringent than the previous one. For example, the act extended the copyright term from 50 years to 70 years. In addition, libraries and archives are treated specially at length in the new act.

‘Libraries may without authorisation make a single copy of a work by reprographic reproduction ....where more copies are required permission must be obtained from the author, publisher or the collective administration society’

‘Permitted use of work protected by copyright does not extend to reproduction in the form of reprography of a whole or of a substantial part of a book’.

Many of us unintentionally infringe copyright law regularly because there is no other alternative and sensible way to access and distribute materials. Notwithstanding the issue of violation of the copyright law, photocopy activities are crucial to the survival and functioning of Institutes of Higher Learning in Ghana. Photocopying keep the educational system functioning and ensures that standards are maintained.

The educational reforms of the late 1980’s in Ghana have led to vast increases in the number of students entering the Universities. However, these increases are not matched with the necessary funding. As a result, there is inadequate supply of textbooks, journals and other teaching and learning materials. This situation has resulted in students, lecturers and librarians photocopying completely valuable books and journals that are actually needed for courses but are no longer in print or are too expensive for students or budgets of most libraries.

Not long ago, the Reprographic Rights Organisation of Ghana (CopyGhana) reported in the Daily Graphic of Thursday December 1, 2005 that mass photocopying of literary materials on the Campuses of Tertiary Institutions in the absence of any agreement is illegal.

In a research that I am currently conducting on copyright and information provision issues, I can count more than 100 commercial photocopy centres on the main campus of the University of Ghana alone.

Some of the comments I received from respondents interviewed on the violation of copyright laws through photocopying were mainly based on:

Unavailability of textbooks and the high cost of textbooks.

Others also said that, the long process of getting permission from authors would delay their study.

Yet others insisted that they were not abusing the copyright law because they were using

the materials:

To acquire knowledge or

not for commercial purposes or that

authors also benefited from the work of others

Few others also maintained that, copyright law, more especially the duration of copyright, is not in consonance with natural justice therefore it cannot be sustained.

To support some of these arguments, I can state that in my own Library; Faculty of Law Library, University of Ghana, Legon. We depend largely on photocopying to source academic materials. For example an essential learning text for first year law students: A sourcebook of the constitutional law of Ghana by Gyandoh, S Jnr and Griffiths J. is completely out of print. The Library now relies on a photocopied version obtained from Northwestern University Law School, Chicago.

Other essential texts some written by local authors are not only expensive but also not available for purchase. A book written by a Ghanaian author but published outside the country (Modern Principles of equity: an exposition with particular reference to Ghana by Kludze, A.K.) costs One million, two hundred thousand cedis (¢1,200,000.00) or ($129.00). This is indeed a big amount of money out of the reach of many students. This same book when photocopied costs only sixty-three thousand cedis (¢63,000.) It is therefore not surprising that many students would prefer to photocopy the book than to buy it.

By courtesy of Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI) my library now has access to Human Rights Quarterly (HRQ) Online but we are told that access to HRQ is not perpetual; for now, we will have access to the Journal for 2007.

We in the global south are used to own a particular copy of a book and to display it on shelves for users to have access to that copy. With the new technologies and copyright, we will be effectively denied ownership of materials for users to have perpetual access.

* Assistant Librarian, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

emdarkey@ug.edu.gh

USA

5 May 2007

Doug Rogers*

VIEWS FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD

The Copy/South Dossier contains a very interesting collection of views from different parts of the world that is very valuable for people in developed and developing countries to understand and try to change. It is also very interesting to point out the traditions of cultural creation and copying in different cultures. Since, as the Introduction points out, the Copy/South Dossier does not present a single point of view, it might be helpful if the contributors had their names attached to the parts they worked on, so readers who wanted to follow up could directly contact the contributors to those sections.

For instance, p. 137 agrees that the creation of fair dealing (or fair use) laws in every country in the world is certainly a demand worth supporting, but I think the article then underestimates how flexible the U.S. fair use statute can be. I believe, and have drafted an article that argues, the U.S. fair use statute should allow the translation in the United States of complete English works into the native languages of citizens of developing countries that could then be provided to developing countries without charge by non-profit corporations for educational purposes. I would like to communicate directly with the individual(s) who contributed to this part of the dossier, not to try to change their minds, but to exchange views. While those more interested in other approaches to increasing access to knowledge in developing and least developed countries could take other approaches, I and perhaps others could address the possibilities for expanding the concept of fair use as an effective legal principle (although perhaps not the most important one) to increase access to knowledge.

Referring at least in part to the U.S. Constitution, p. 82 of the Copy/South Dossier says it is assumed that people can and will only come up with new inventions if there is a sufficiently large financial reward acting as an incentive for doing so. I dont think that is the assumption in U.S. copyright law. It is recognized that some people will create literary works and inventions without a financial incentive, but the question is how can a system be structured to maximize the creation of literary works and inventions through the incentives provided by copyright and patent protection? While I think that the increased protection provided by copyright and patent laws over the last 30 years has swung the balance too far (a) in favor of the rights of creators and those who buy the rights from the creators and (b) against the rights of users and potential users, I also think that to disregard the role that incentives can play in the creation of new works, or to attack the motives of those favoring stronger IP protection, would hurt the credibility of the overall argument against imposing the same IP laws on developing and least developed countries that the developed countries have.

The overall message of the Copy/South Dossier is a very important message: that for the developed countries to impose their intellectual property laws on developing and least developed countries creates terrible hardships on the citizens of the developing and least developed countries. The issue is what approaches are most likely to improve the situation. Hopefully more people who understand the harm caused by the current system will pursue trying to correct the situation in the varied legal ways different people and organizations may choose, until the most effective ways are identified and until there is a bridge over the digital divide.

Thanks.

*Columbus, Ohio

Argentina

26 de abril de 2007

Diana Venturini

CREATIVIDAD Y LA IDEOLOGÍA DEL COPYRIGHT

Pienso que entre el creador y los que reciben lo creado hay que eliminar intermediarios que acumulen $ y poder a costa de ambos extremos de ese puente. El que crea, si lo hace por necesidad de dar eso que abunda en su interior, busca compartir lo más pronto, directo y sin trabas posible, y al mayor número de destinatarios. Las condiciones actuales posibilitadas por internet son ideales para esto, siempre que no se interponga nadie con su gran bolsa para juntar dinero a costa de la vida de otros. Porque el que crea da de su vida, de su alma, y a esto no es lícito poner rejas ni compuertas tramposas, porque se debilitarían las ganas de crear. Sí debería haber un buen sistema de reciprocidad, de manera que el que quiere dedicar todo su tiempo a la creación pueda vivir de ello, sin necesidad de grandes aparatos promotores y cobradores.

En mi experiencia, es tal la alegría de compartir lo que uno crea con la mayor cantidad posible de gente, que esto compensa bastante bien el tiempo invertido, claro que no tengo la producción artística como modo de ganarme la vida. Pero creo que es una mentira que sin el aparato represor y apropiador el creador no pueda subsistir, es otra gran falacia de un sistema que no se resigna a retirar sus garras de sus presas.

USA
11 april 2007
David Pena*

Pierre Joseph Proudhon, the great French anarchist, famously declared that “Property is Theft!” As if picking up where Proudhon left off, the authors of The Copy/South Dossier argue that an enormous crime is being committed against humankind: its intellectual legacy, for centuries held in common, is being stolen in the name of that baneful old concept of private property. It’s been happening ever since the first copyright laws were codified in the 18th century, in effect turning information, knowledge, music, and literary discourse into privatized commodities. The modern day perpetrators of this crime are transnational media corporations which privatize information and knowledge under the guise of “intellectual property” and its legal justification, the concept of “copyright,” in order to sell these works for a profit to whomever can pay. The whole sordid arrangement is enforced by the United States and other powerful, imperialist countries that force weaker, poorer countries in the "global South" to accept the Berne Convention and other copyright agreements as conditions for receiving the benefits of trade and aid. This enriches the big publishers, media conglomerates, software makers, and other information manufacturers based in the rich countries of the "global North" while forcing poor people in the impoverished countries of the South to pay—if they can pay at all—exorbitant prices for this privatized knowledge: the books, periodicals, software and other media they need to lift themselves out of ignorance and poverty.

The Copy/South Dossier does a commendable job of deconstructing the ideology of copyright. Proponents of copyright claim that it provides an incentive for creativity by allowing authors to claim ownership of their work and thereby reap the financial rewards of their labor; without this incentive, so we are told, no one would create anything. The Dossier fires back at this specious argument by pointing out the obvious but frequently overlooked fact that most creators don't even own the copyrights to their work; publishers require authors to transfer copyright as a condition of publication, so if you want your name in print, be prepared to surrender your rights. Besides, everyone knows that most creative people aren't in it for the money, which is made abundantly clear by the fact that most of them never make any. The Dossier shows up the "if-it-weren't-for-copyright-nobody-would-create-anything" argument as a smoke screen hiding the corporations' real worry: that if copyright laws are weakened, big business won't be able to make money off other people's creativity and humanity's need for knowledge.

The Dossier is the best work on the copyright controversy this reviewer has ever read, because it digs beneath establishment ideology and legalistic mumbo-jumbo to show us how the international copyright system developed, who copyright helps, who it hurts, and which international institutions work together to uphold it. This reviewer has just one bone to pick, but it's an important one. Copyright isn't just a problem with the economic relationship between the global South and the global North; it's a class issue pitting the propertied against the propertyless. Class exploitation does not line up along geographical boundaries. If you're not a big media corporation, then you are being exploited by the copyright system regardless of the hemisphere in which you happen to live. It's just that people in poorer countries feel this exploitation much more acutely than denizens
of richer countries.

True to their convictions, the Copy/South Research Group declares the Dossier unrestricted by copyright, and they will even mail you up to five free copies of the work.

* dpena@mdc.edu

First published as review in Counterpoise http://www.counterpoise.info/