Infringement and Remedies of Economic Rights of Audiovisual Works under the Ethiopian Copyright Law: Law and Practices in Addis Ababa
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Date
2010-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Audiovisual works are one of the important categories of copyrighted works intangible form of property. These works are internationally protected by the Berne Convention of 1886 and the Rome Convention of 1952. At the National level, specifically Copyright and Neighboring Rights protection Proclamation No 410/2004, the Ethiopian civil and criminal code in general.
Basically, as audiovisual works are part and parcel of intellectual property subsists in a work an exclusive economic right. The law operates to prevent any unauthorized person from exploiting the protected work without the permission of or the remuneration of the owner of audiovisual work, which may or may not be the author or creator of the work. Any exploitation of the work without such permission or remuneration is termed an infringement of the copyright law which the violator punishable by law and attracts various civil and some criminal penalties.
In order for an audiovisual work to have protection, it must satisfy the test of originality of the work and be fixed in a medium for communication. Unlike some intellectual property rights systems, therefore, there is no formal system of registration of Copyright under the Ethiopian legal system. Theoretically, this is based on the principle that Copyright is a fundamental right which should not require the time and expense of legal process for recognition. Practically, however, we can marvel at how much easier it might be the audiovisual works formed part of some official register to which we only needed to ascertain prove in court litigation and ownership and expiration of audiovisual work protection.
Once these requirements are fulfilled ,the audiovisual work, different from to other copyrighted works, gets protection for 50 years similar collective work of copyright owners, it commence counting which from date of fixed or communicated to the public which ever date of latest. However the script writer, the performers, composer or sound recorded incorporated the work will be exploited on separate Copyright protection .The audiovisual works are usually extended to the producer of the work who is designated as the author of the overall production, although he or she might have utilized several different component works in creating the audiovisual to which Copyright and Neighboring Right protection might extend.
However, it is now common to see that the audiovisual work of the country is respected more by breach than by its observance. This research paper examines the level of infringement of the economic rights arising out of audiovisual works with particular reference to practical challenges for the effective enforcement of the law and the legal remedy available by closely scrutinizing the Ethiopian copyright law and other relevant laws. To such end, the writer examined the extent of infringement of audiovisual works in Addis Ababa city and come to the conclusion that the violation is rampant. Numerous actors engage in this infringement including some recording and distributing companies, audiovisual renting shops, and peddlers. The audiovisual rental shops, for instance, rent films which are not original video cassette or VCD, and/or rent without consent of the author after purchasing one original work. They also reproduce such and similar works without the consent of the author by a machine such as computer.
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Economic Rights of Audiovisual Works