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Intellectual Property

Copyright – South Africa

Copyright Amendment Bill

a) Emerging Issues

The following challenges emerged during the processing of legislation:

  • The Committee had approved the WIPO Copyright Treaty, the WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty and the Beijing Treaty on Audio Visual Performances for accession in the Fifth Parliament. However, as these agreements come into force within three months of depositing the instruments of accession, the time taken to finalise the Copyright and the Performers’ Protection Amendment Bills has prevented South Africa from depositing these instruments. This had a negative impact on the stakeholders it should benefit.
  • Furthermore, the Constitutional Court judgement, in terms of Blind SA v Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition a.o. [2022] ZACC 33, stated that Sections 6 and 7, read with section 23 of the Copyright Act, are unconstitutional, invalid and inconsistent with the rights of persons with visual and print disabilities. This declaration of unconstitutionality was suspended until 20 September 2024 to enable Parliament to remedy the defect in the Copyright Act giving rise to this unconstitutionality. The Copyright Amendment Bill seeks to address the Court’s ruling.

However, this is dependent on the President’s assent before the deadline. In the event that the President does not assent to the Bill timeously, the Committee would need to process a Committee Bill to ensure that the matter is addressed and/or Parliament would need to request an extension from the Constitutional Court.

b) Issues for follow-up

The Seventh Parliament should consider:

  • Tracking that the Copyright Amendment Bill is assented to by the President to ensure that the deadline set by the Constitutional Court is met.
  • Tracking that the instruments of accession to the WIPO Copyright Treaty, the WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty and the Beijing Treaty on Audio Visual Performances are deposited once the Copyright Amendment and Performers’ Protection Amendment Bills are assented to. 

Collective Management Organisations (CMOs)

Copyright – Globally  

Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Including Copyright)

Open Access, A2k, Libraries and Scholarly Communication

Webinars – Alerts

EIFL Webinars:

Knowledge Rights 21 webinar:

Scholarly Horizons Webinars

For more information, please complete online form, or email Denise.Nicholson@scholarlyhorizons.com