admin Beaven Tapureta Bookshelf
The announcement made by local publishers during ZIBF that they are celebrating the conviction of a number of book pirates came at a time when writers are demanding an understanding of the publishing process.
The writers have generally voiced their concerns against the ‘open air’ book piracy, an example of copyright infringement going on around them especially in the cities.
Their quest for this kind of on-the-scene knowledge about their rights is best understood when one has also enough literature about copyright law.
According to the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, copyright is “a legal right created by the law of a country, that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator (eg the photographer of a photograph or the author of a book) to receive compensation for their intellectual effort”.
While the convicted book pirates may have started serving their sentences, we also need to ask how much some of our published and unpublished writers and upcoming publishers know about what this all entails in their careers.
I would recommend that the writers (including those who self-publish) in Zimbabwe must have on their writing/reading desks at least three documents, that is, the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act which is a law, the “User’s Guide to Copyright Law in Zimbabwe” published by the National Arts Council in 2005 and the recent National Copyright Strategy produced by Zimcopy and others organisations last year.
The Act helps to understand what the law says about copyright in the context of our country. New writers and publishers should not be scared of this document because it does not drown them in difficult legal words. It covers the whole broad area of copyright. The “User’s Guide to Copyright Law in Zimbabwe” simplifies the whole copyright story. Should resources permit, the National Arts Council should have this booklet reprinted and translated into all our official languages. The booklet was authored by renowned copyright lawyer Witness Paridzirai Zhangazha whose wit makes it possible for an artist in far rural areas to understand the importance of their intellectual properties. Some of these artists in remote and information-starved areas are the main victims of copyright infringement without them knowing it.
In the Guide, Zhangazha defines copyright law as “simply a regulation of how a person enjoys or uses a special type of property and how that person is protected from other people who may want to use the same property without the owner’s permission. The special types referred to are basically creations of the mind”.
I wish I could unveil a large part from this booklet here but unfortunately the copyright holders of this booklet about copyright won’t allow that! According to some acknowledgeable dictates of copyright called “fair use” or “fair deal”, they can only allow me to share a small chunk of the delicious food in this guide!
The “User’s Guide to Copyright Law in Zimbabwe” covers, with story-like examples, issues such as the meaning of copyright law, the various intellectual products capable of being owned under copyright law, intellectual products which are not copyrightable, who the copyright law protects, when does copyright start to exist and many other issues. Zhangazha’s examples are realistic. For instance, in his explanation of what constitutes a crime to be reported, he says, “If one were to make a machine designed to mould the famous Nyaminyami walking stick, the making of such a machine is a crime. Every copy made by that machine is also a count of a criminal offence. This is the relationship between an infringing copy and a mechanism designed to infringe copyright.”
This example indeed is likely to warn writers and publishers to slow down on celebrating the conviction of a certain number of book pirates because the machines that make the infringing copies of copyrighted books are still running wildly in the corridors of our towns. Unless these mechanisms used by the book pirates are stopped then we can perhaps celebrate. Questions have been asked by some writers about how they could ascertain that their copyright has been breached and what acceptable or legal action to take. The booklet has all the answers, including “fair deal/use” cases where a certain infringement is allowed but only to a certain extent.
The National Copyright Strategy for Zimbabwe is an important document with as much value as the two above-said pieces of copyright literature. It was presented at the 2015 ZIBF Indaba conference by renowned playwright Stephen Chifunyise who played the role of consultant in the production of the national strategy. It covers literary works, music, visual arts, film industry and audio-visual performances.
The Strategy, among other things, acknowledges that the current Copyright Law in Zimbabwe needs updating because of the information and technological changes that have taken place since the turn of the century. The document also says that “the supporting statutes such as the Intellectual Property Tribunal Act need to be operationalised and have a fully functional system. Consideration needs to be given to provide for deterrent penalties”.
The section on literary works really carries sympathy for the local writing industry. It states that “at independence, Zimbabwe witnessed a healthy expansion of the education system. This was accompanied by a concomitant development of the book industry.
By 1990 almost 90 percent of the books used in primary and secondary schools were produced locally with the majority written by nationals in line with the Government policy of self-reliance and self-determination. The Zimbabwean culture was enriched by the use of these books in social studies and the humanities which provided authentic and indigenous interpretation of events in contrast to the historical views advanced by persons from different cultures. There is grave risk that these gains will be lost if the current trends on piracy are allowed to continue.
Local authors have no incentives to write new books or revise old ones. Indigenous publishing houses are losing business and their ultimate demise will be inevitable if rights holders are not sufficiently empowered to safeguard their interests.
Cultural programmes which include the promotion of the use of indigenous languages will suffer and ultimately compromise the growth of cultural diversity at local, national and regional levels. The illegal vending of published books is rampant even in schools, colleges and universities.
This illegal business has taken more than 50percent market share of the legitimate publishing business. Consequently, local printers have no financial resources to invest in digital printing technology and local publishers are now reverting to having their books printed outside Zimbabwe”.
There are 10 proposed national goal areas well-explained in the strategy and these goals are expected to “provide a vision of the future of copyright in Zimbabwe”.
The identified goal areas are copyright education, copyright legislation, implementation of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, policies, copyright enforcement, capacity building, awareness raising, research and date collection on copyright issues, international dimension on copyright and review of the state of copyright system in Zimbabwe.
It is true that copyright involves many people in order to manage it at a national level. It needs key stakeholders to come together if artists are to fully benefit from their intellectual creations. According to the national strategy, the key stakeholders in copyright management include the creative civil society, public institutions, government ministries and consumers of copyright products. About 15 Government ministries are listed as part of the key stakeholders. No doubt government is needed at this time when the survival of artists (particularly musicians and writers) is being threatened by the devil of piracy.
Having said this, it is also important for writers to keep following and participating in the designing of any programmes that impact upon their copyright.
Online Reporter