Publishers’ association of south africa

The general public can be categorised according to whether they are engaged in work which can easily lead to infringement, or work involving intellectual property. The priority group includes policy-makers, the judiciary, the police, and the education sector. WIPO has suggested that a solid public awareness campaign requires private sector investment as well as private sector-government consultations and partnerships. The mass media can play a useful role, as it has broad outreach to society at all levels but, again, needs to be educated in order to do so. Finally, social and cultural obstacles need to be examined with sensitivity, and taken into account when planning a campaign.

There is a need for heightened copyright awareness and educational programmes throughout the industry and for strong rights owner organisations to drive them. It goes without saying that the general public is even more poorly informed. The thrust of legislation and its enforcement depend ultimately on acceptance by the public, and thus broad-based awareness programmes supported by the industry sector and Government are not only necessary, but also long overdue.

The Moral Basis of Respect for Copyright
It is important to recognise that legislation alone will not further the economic development of the creative industries and counter copyright infringement unless the consumer has the will to cooperate – the history of the software industry more than adequately demonstrates this. It is a trite point that unless public opinion is behind the law, enforcement is problematic.
What needs to happen in South Africa is that the value of the products of the mind to the country becomes widely recognised and copyright infringement becomes regarded as unacceptable and morally reprehensible – something that harms authors and impedes cultural and educational progress.
Discussions of copyright issues need to be related to the broader developmental issues that are at the heart of this Report. Writers need to be in the front line of awareness campaigns if the moral basis of respect for copyright is really to be understood by government and the community. Promotion of the value of the industry is needed if government and the community are to take the industry seriously and respond to its IP protection needs.
Copyright Awareness
It is striking that in the print industries sector in South Africa, there is very little information available on copyright in South Africa and low levels of copyright awareness. In comparison, Australia has extensive copyright resources in print and on the Internet and these documents reflect a very high level of discussion and participation in copyright issues and campaigns in the publishing sector. ¹⁷
Industry/Government Interaction on Copyright Issues
A review of the recent legislative history of copyright issues in Australia demonstrates very active interaction between government and the copyright industries, with extensive stakeholder input into proposed legislative reforms, and government responses to these industry position papers.¹⁸

In contrast, communication between South African industries in the print sector and the Department of Trade and Industry, which is responsible for IP issues, has in recent years been poor (see Chapter 4). Copyright expert Owen Dean claims that copyright legislation in South Africa is in a state of paralysis and that urgent action is needed by industry organisations and alliances to get a momentum going.¹⁹ There has been a lack of dialogue around copyright issues, with sporadic interventions by the DTI followed by periods of inaction and lack of communication. At the same time, the industry sector itself has failed to put pressure on government, partly because of a lack of organisation on the part of rights owners.

The imperative for providing a protective legal environment for creative endeavour of course extends beyond the cultural and creative industries, and is of vital importance for national economic development in the context of the global knowledge economy. While this is acknowledged, to an extent, by the Department of Trade and Industry, in its creation of a Cultural Industries directorate, there appears to be little acknowledgement by the DTI of the urgent need to develop copyright legislation to support economic growth and global positioning.²⁰
The print industries sector believes that if there is to be genuine growth and development for authors and publishers, the creation of a culture of respect for creative and intellectual products will need to be accompanied by an effective legislative environment in which creative effort can be rewarded, copyright violations can be curtailed and piracy brought under control.
RECOMMENDATIONS

1. 
   The print industry sector needs to become more active in forging alliances both within the industry sector and with other copyright industries to promote copyright issues and to lobby for national policy initiatives and legislative reform.
   

2. 
   However, the industry sector cannot achieve this alone. Active government engagement is needed, in a transparent and consultative process, to ensure the creation of an effective copyright regime that will
   

• 
  Foster the growth of the copyright industries;
  

• 
  Provide an effective framework for information and knowledge dissemination to meet national needs;
  

• 
  Provide an enabling context for South Africa’s international trade negotiations.
  

3. 
   If the print industries are to make their maximum contribution to the country and its cultural and economic growth, attempts to improve the copyright framework in South Africa will need to be linked to:
   

• 
  Active programmes for the growth of a reading culture;
  

• 
  Support for and promotion of the rights of authors;
  

• 
  Educational programmes on the value of copyright;
  

• 
  The expansion of library services.
  

4. 
   From the perspective of industry strategy, this could include:
   

• 
  Initiatives to produce information and raise the profile of copyright issues;
  

• 
  The promotion of training in copyright for publishers and rights owners;
  

• 
  Active interaction with readers and consumers to promote the value of copyright and copyright compliance.
  

COPYRIGHT AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA

THE ADVENT AND RAPID SPREAD OF DIGITAL MEDIA in the last decades have posed a number of challenges in the copyright arena. The speed and ease with which digital media can transmit information across the globe undoubtedly offer opportunities for the lower-cost and widespread dissemination of information (at least where hardware availability and connectivity allow), but it also poses threats to rights owners because of the potential for creating limitless, untraceable copies at low cost. Digital content can also be altered very easily, posing threats to the moral rights of authors as well as making it difficult to track infringements.
On the other hand, rights users fear the erosion of fair dealing rights, given the potential to block access to free information with a pay-per-use supply model. Technology offers not only the potential for freer dissemination of content, but also for greater control of that content, leading many users to fear a loss of the rights that they have in relation to print products.
Across the world, different countries have grappled with the question of legislating for this new environment, debating the issue of necessary legislative change to deal with digital media and the challenges posed. Given the rate of growth of the digital knowledge economy worldwide, this is a matter of vital national importance for any country that wants to have its own voice in a rapidly expanding global information market.
South Africa has fallen badly behind in addressing the questions of digital copyright law. While the print industry sector believes that attention to the state of copyright law for the print media should be the primary concern in South Africa at the moment, it nevertheless urges stakeholders in the print industry value chain and Government to begin the process of creating policy for electronic copyright in South Africa.
The growth of digital media poses urgent policy concerns for countries wishing to develop their knowledge and technological industries. The Digital Divide can only widen in the absence, in a developing country, of a coherent intellectual property policy, linked to national initiatives for technological growth.