Hon Chairperson, he Copyright Act of 1978 is outdated and has not been effective in a number of areas. The key objective of the Copyright Amendment Bill is to modernise South Africa's copyright law taking into account the development needs of South Africa, the specific circumstances of the country and global developments. There have been gaps identified in the access for libraries, archives, museum, education sector and for people living with disabilities.
The nonpayment of royalties for copyright works remains a concern as well as the unfair terms of contracts that affected right holders particularly authors. This necessitated the amendments to the legislation to be aligned with the ever evolving digital environment, to allow reasonable access to education, to ensure access to information and make resources available for persons with disabilities
and to ensure that artists do not die as paupers due to ineffective protection.
The Bill is aligned to development at a multilateral level, international standards and introduces improved exceptions and limitation into copyright law. The proposed amendments to the Act are to protect the economic interests of authors and creators of copyright works against infringements and to promote innovation and creativity. The Bill provides for the sharing of royalties and prescribes standard terms of contract for protection of contracting parties.
South Africa has adopted hybrid model of fair use which takes into account the list of exceptions that seeks to create access to education, libraries, archives, computer programs and making learning materials accessible to the disable and visually impaired.
The Bill provides for the availability of accessible format copies of work to accommodate persons with disability. This provision extends beyond matters pertaining to the blind and includes other disabilities such learning disabilities, dyslexia, etc. The Bill introduces a resale royalty right. This resale right means that an artist could be entitled to a royalty even when their original work is resold commercially. The Bill proposes the strengthening of copyright tribunal to address
disputes in copyrights. The Bill introduces provisions which deal with matters pertaining to collecting societies. Collecting societies will only be allowed to collect for their registered members. [Time expired.] The ANC supports the Bill.
Question put: That the Bill be agreed to.
Bill accordingly agreed to, in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.