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Andrew Muvishi and Nokutenda Chiyangwa
THE Ministry of Sport, Arts and Recreation has advised artistes and athletes to familiarise themselves with intellectual property rights to avoid exploitation by promoters and pirates.
Speaking at a training programme held by Muvingi and Mugadza Legal Practitioners in Harare on Wednesday, principal director in the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Recreation Dr Benson Dube said such workshops should be held more often as there was need to safeguard the rights of athletes and artistes.
“The effective enforcement of intellectual property rights around the world is becoming an essential part of the health of the sport economy,” he said.
“A growing part of the economic value of the sport is linked to intellectual property rights. These rights relate to copyright, commercial communications, trademarks, and image and media rights and it is important that recipient is guaranteed the possibility to have distant access to sport events at cross-border level within the European Union.”
Guest of honour at the event, dub poet Albert Nyathi, said he had observed that ignorance played a pivotal role in the exploitation of artistes.
“The country is losing a lot of money through piracy because pirates sell compact discs without taxation. For example, my song ‘Senzeni Na?’ was capable of bringing about a lot of income, but pirates took over all the profits,” he said.
Online Reporter