The emerging Ethiopian Copyright and Related Rights Collecting Society: Assessment of Challenges and Prospects

Gebremedhn, Kahsay (2013) The emerging Ethiopian Copyright and Related Rights Collecting Society: Assessment of Challenges and Prospects. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.

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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.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Subjects: K Law > K Law (General)
Divisions: Africana
Depositing User: Kabiru Wallace Ndung'u
Date Deposited: 04 Jul 2019 09:00
Last Modified: 04 Jul 2019 09:02
URI: http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/9364

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