Guyanese artistes call for modern copyright legislation

– says outdated Copyright Act stifling creative industry

By Tajeram Mohabir

The absence of modern copyright legislation has paved the way for the creation of a lucrative enterprise in intellectual piracy, stagnating the growth and development of the local creative industry.

According to the US Department of Commerce, about five to seven per cent of all world trade involves counterfeit products, and estimates the cost to the global economy at more than US$650 billion per year.

The income raked in from pirated DVDs, CDs, the unauthorised photocopying of books and other intellectual materials is a tiny, if not invisible, sum of the global counterfeit trade.

But it is an enterprise through which the illegal middle man can make a healthy living, and had it not been for the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT), he could easily have been classified as a thief and tax evader.

Three-time Soca Road March Champion Melissa “Vanilla” Roberts told Guyana Times International that the competition is unfair.

“Most locally produced CDs will retail at a price of Gy$1500, but consumers can get the best of any artiste in the world for Gy$200. Now how can a Guyanese artiste compete with that when you have to spend no less than Gy$50,000 to produce a song?

“Next, an artiste will spend no less than Gy$150,000 to produce a music video to be aired on television, but because television stations basically get free video content from around the world, why should they be obligated to play ours.

“I gave those two examples to say this, if we had updated intellectual property rights legislation in place, radio and television stations will have to be paying millions of US dollars to foreign companies for content. This will in turn force them to revert to more local content, making way for competitive, productive and economic growth for the creative industries in Guyana,” she said.

Outdated Act

The current legislation, the 1956 Copyright Act, which Guyana inherited from Great Britain following its Independence in 1966 has never been revised since, even though its former colonial master had long repealed the legislation that deemed copyright infringement a civil wrong. Though the current Act does provide protection of literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works, the fines are extremely low, ranging mostly from £5  to £50 (G$1750-G$17,500). Given the time and cost to pursue an infringement in court, some artistes view the exercise as a loss rather than a gain.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall said Government is cognisant of the need for copyright reform, but is also mindful of the existing realities in society.

 It has been suggested that what can be done, in keeping with the Attorney General’s suggestion for a careful revision of the Act, is to amend the old legislation in a gradual manner, with the aim of discouraging acts of intellectual piracy through heavy fines, and provision for settlement through mediation.

World renowned Guyana-born British musician and creator of the Ringbang genre, Eddy Grant, has chosen to set up his recording company, Ice Records and the Coach House studio in Barbados, rather than his homeland.

Mosa Telford, who has won several literary awards, most recently the 2013 Guyana Prize for Literature in the Drama Category, said the Copyright Act is a dagger in the side of the creative industry.