Government to table intellectual copyright legislation soon

After years of debate, consultations and criticisms, it appears that the Government is ready to take the next set of crucial steps to overhauling the outdated copyright legislation.

President David Granger, while addressing Parliament following its recess, stated that an Intellectual Property Rights Bill will be brought before the House during this session to upgrade existing legislation.

Miniscule fines for copyright infringement under the existing law have opened the door to the proliferation of unlicensed music, ideas, films, books and other items being resold on the open market.

Illustrator and graphic artist, Barrington Braithwaite believes that Guyana is 50 years late with its Intellectual Property Rights legislation. He said Guyana has lost the development of new industries, especially in the area of digital technologies. “If you go to some record bars, you get a slip that includes taxes. It means that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has legalised piracy and they have to. One man can’t do legal and everyone else illegal”, Braithwaite told Kaieteur News following the President’s announcement.

While the legislation could take several months before it becomes law, Braithwaite believes that there should be a period of amnesty for businesses, which undertake piracy and pay.

“It is something that few of us have paid attention to. It will be a major culture shock. There will have to be a change of attitude towards the engagement for artwork, designs, music; people who are designing programmes to computer. It’s not art alone; it’s jewellery, furniture and other industries”, Braithwaite stated.

He stated that Guyana also stands to benefit because it will become increasingly important for Guyana to own the rights to what it produces.

Braithwaite raised the issue of who will own the copyrights to the recently announced research being undertaken by the Chinese into Guyana’s forest.

“Guyana should own those rights. These are the things we will have to develop as a country under new legislation,” Braithwaite pointed out.

While not in receipt of the draft legislation, Braithwaite is of the view that copyright laws are very similar with a fixed international template. He said a court in Barbados could award as much as US$250,000 for copyright infringement.

He said that many of the Caribbean countries, particularly Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have been eager to see Guyana upgrade the existing copyright legislation because their musicians and other creative minds have been affected for years. “These Caribbean countries will now be looking at us because we have been pirating their music for years. The music we will play, download and distribute will have to be licensed for use”, Braithwaite pointed out. He also stated that with Guyana becoming a major oil producer, the spotlight will be in Guyana and investors who will be coming to participate in other oil industry as well as other sectors will require effective copyright legislation.Minister of Public telecommunications Cathy Hughes earlier this year indicated that copyright laws will have to form part of the new liberalised telecommunication sector. She had promised that the legislation would have been tabled in 2018.

There have been similar promises of copyright legislation. Former Education Minister, Rupert Roopnarine in April 2016 promised the law within two months. There have been many previous promises.

(Kaieteur News)