The Emerging Ethiopian Copyright and Related Rights Collecting Society: Assessment of Challenges and Prospects
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Date
2013-02
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Copyright collecting societies were developed so as to rectify the difficulty faced by individual
copyright holders to negotiate and give license to multiple and dispersed users and vice versa.
They serve as intermediary between users and copyright holders and create less costly supply of
copyrighted works and less costly access to users of copyrighted works. With the same reason,
i.e. to enforce their rights, following the promulgation of copyright proclamation in 2004,
Ethiopian copyright holders and their professional associations have established a copyright
collecting society known by the name Ethiopian copyright and neighboring rights collective
management society (ECNRCMS) in November 2009 to collectively enforce their rights. Though
it is a three years old association, ECNRCMS is not yet functional.
Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the main challenges which make ECNRCMS ineffective
and the opportunities or promising developments that helps the same to successfully involve in to
its functions. The research paper examines the issue whether the appropriate laws, i.e. Ethiopian
copyright legal regime and charities and societies’ proclamation and other relevant laws, are in
a position to facilitate the successful operation of the emerging Ethiopian copyright collecting
society. Besides, it also carefully scrutinizes the role of appropriate institutions and the
government in general in the establishment and operation of the emerging Ethiopian copyright
collecting society. Moreover, the paper explores the problems other than legal and institutional
challenges as well as the opportunities/ prospects for the successful operation of the emerging
Ethiopian copyright collecting society (ECNRCMS). After examination of these issues, it is found
that the existing Ethiopian copyright legal regime has loopholes that challenge the function of
Ethiopian Copyright and Neighboring rights Collective management society. The legal regime
fails to incorporate private levying system, specific provisions that deal with copyright
protection on the online-environment; and incorporate special provisions that deal with
copyright collecting society. The Charities and societies proclamation is also found irrelevant
and inappropriate to regulate the function of the collecting society for the later is designed to
regulate associations, which have distinct objective, and contains provisions that are totally in
contrary to the very nature and operation of copyright collecting societies- such as it prohibits
distribution of remunerations or benefits among its members.
In addition, absence of special institutional back up or government support, lack of awareness,
existences of high level of copyright piracy in the nation, absence of competent staffs are the
other challenges for the emerging Ethiopian copyright collecting society. The paper further finds
positive developments (i.e. national and international) which can and would positively contribute
for the successful operation and development of the copyright collecting society.
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Keywords
emerging Ethiopian copyright and related rights