Copyright Review Commission Report - ICT Law and Regulation ...

3.1LEGISLATION: COPYRIGHT3.1.1NEEDLETIME 5Under the current legislation, performers enjoy no copyright protection – this right is confined to composers and authors.The lack of protection for performers is out of keeping with international trends in which needletime regulations areincreasingly the norm. South Africa’s non-accession to the Rome Convention is similarly anomalous. The absence ofneedletime legislation is one of the key obstacles to the development of local music and the music industry. 6Recommendation 1:The draft amendment of the Standing Committee on Intellectual Property regarding needletime should be implementedwithout delay. The MITT has agreed that no further public consultation on the needletime issue is required.The MITT is unanimous in its concern about the length of time that this issue has been under discussion. It recommendsthat time frames be incorporated into the amendment of the Act 7 , providing for negotiations between the broadcasters onthe one hand and the producers and performers on the other hand, regarding the establishment of the appropriate rate.Should agreement not be reached within the stipulated time period, the Minister of Trade and Industry is asked tointervene.The Minister of Trade and Industry is asked to appoint a permanent Copyright Tribunal that would be essential to theongoing wellbeing of the industry. The Copyright Tribunal should be asked, if necessary, to arbitrate the initialnegotiations between broadcaster and producers/performers regarding the rate to ensure that agreement is reached inthe stipulated period of time.The MITT further recommends to the Minister the establishment of a joint performers and producers collecting society toadminister the needletime royalty, in order to make the Act functional and in line with international norms.3.1.2 EXTENSION OF THE TERM OF COPYRIGHTRECOMMENDATION 2:The speedy implementation of the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Intellectual Property regarding theextension of the term of copyright for both composers and performers to 70 and 50 years respectively, in line withinternational practice.5 Needletime is also referred to as the broadcast right. It gives musicians (in their capacity as performers) the right to receiveremuneration when their repertoire is either played on radio or performed live amounting to a Public Performance Right. This right canimpact on income for musicians and expenditure for broadcasters both domestically and internationally. It was removed from SouthAfrican Copyright legislation in 1965. Ammendments to relevant legislation is currently under review by the Department of Trade andIndustry in Government Gazette No.21156, published on 10 May 2000 .6 No broadcaster made a submission to the MITT. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) was approached to make a writtensubmission or to present at one of the five regional hearings. The NAB declined on the grounds that its views had been communicatedthrough the needletime-related hearings of the DTI.7 There is a minority view that the time restriction should be at the discretion of the Minister rather than written into the Act.- 169 -