Publishers’ association of south africa

THE IMPORTANCE OF COPYRIGHT

A STRONG COPYRIGHT REGIME contributes to the economic, cultural and educational strength of the country:

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  Effective copyright protection ensures that creators are given due recompense for their efforts and encourages creative production.
  

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  Copyright provides a framework for the dissemination of knowledge and creative work. It is about enabling access to creative works and knowledge products, rather than preventing access, as is often perceived.
  

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  With the rapid globalisation and growth of digital media, an effective copyright regime is the essential underpinning of a country’s participation in the global information economy.
  

Copyright law has to strike a balance between the economic interests of those who produce the copyright-protected products, and the informational needs of those who desire access to them. The crucial question is, to quote a recent report on copyright and development:

… how to reconcile the public interest in accessing new knowledge and the products of new knowledge, with the public interest in stimulating invention and creation which produces new knowledge and products on which material and cultural progress may depend.³
From the perspective of the print industries sector in South Africa, the essential balance is between the need to ensure the health and growth of the industry sector, to the benefit of all stakeholders, while ensuring that the cultural and educational needs of the country are met.
The core argument of the print industries sector is that these two sets of needs are reconcilable.
The most effective way of meeting the educational and cultural needs of the country would be the fostering of a copyright framework that encourages the growth of local products to meet the needs of local communities. And the most effective way of achieving the low prices needed for wide information dissemination would be through the economies of scale that would come from the wider reach of print products to those members of the community who are not currently readers. It is through a vibrant and diverse print media sector that South Africa could most effectively meet its reading needs.