Seminar held on copyright law
While those who deal with computers are looking anxiously towards the year 2000 as the date the Y2K bug kicks in, many TV viewers are growing concerned over rumors that the upcoming copyright law will take away “Another World” or “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. A seminar is underway over the next two days to address these concerns and a wide range of other issues about copyright and the television programs, music, photos, paintings and other creations which fall under the definition of “intellectual property”.
On January first, 2000, the copyright law comes into effect in Belize. Our law will be incorporated into international copyright laws meaning that not only will the works of Belizean artists be protected but also the pirated foreign material that we have been watching on our television sets. Beverly Smith Lopez, Director of the Belize Arts Council says Belizeans should be less concerned with losing American television programs and more active in protecting our own creative products.
Beverly Smith Lopez, Director, Belize Arts Council
“Case in point, yet to be brought up is the recent recording of Andy Palacio’s music by a famous group and we will never forget what happened to Chico and still people think that that is not important; we will lose rather than gain if we put the copyright in place. I have been told, Miss Bev you like controversy, that the copyright is controversial and I said so what is wrong with controversial? Isn’t that the world we live in? Isn’t that the reason why we fight for our rights? If you call it controversy; we call it rights.”
To get Belizeans, especially our artists and the electronic media prepared for the year 2000, the Belize Arts Council in conjunction with the government, is sponsoring the first national seminar on intellectual property.
Beverly Smith Lopez
“The seminar is to train people to get them aware of what is happening, what copyright is all about, the areas that will be covered in copyright. It is not just the performing arts, we have things like trade, patents, trade marks. There is a wide area passing the copyright so all these people will be affected, even the electronic media will be affected. So the seminar is to bring much awareness to all the areas that will be covered.”
Attorney General Dickie Bradley says from the information he has gathered from reading the Jamaican legislation and Trinidad and Tobago’s version of that legislation there haven’t been any of the negative consequences that most thought would occur with copyrighted material and intellectual properties.
Dickie Bradley, Attorney General
“I hope the only good implication for us that our artists community, that our intellectuals or intellectual property owners will end up benefiting.
A concern in Belize as I understand it has been the users of cable. You know that basically Belizeans are getting cable television practically free compare to the real cost of having so many channels. The other downside is that we can walk into our record stores and purchase the latest music from abroad which are basically pirated music.”
Bradley says as far as he has been told these concerns can be worked out in a manner that there will be no major negative impact on the users of these services.
Dickie Bradley
“I would hope that one impact would be that in fact we are fed a better diet on our television cables where we would see more local production, much more local production. The rich culture of Belize, the use of our artists, the culture and the artists of other people in the region both the Americas and the Caribbean. That will be a big plus for us in this matter.”
Assisting the Belize Arts Council and the government of Belize in educating people about the implications of the copyright is the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO. WIPO and the World Trade Organization, which Belize became a member of in 1994, have agreed on a joint initiative to provide technical cooperation for developing countries to help them make the 2000 deadline. But as explained by Larry Allman, WIPO’s Senior Counselor, before any help can be given to Belize, the country must first become a WIPO member. He is optimistic that his trip to Belize will make that possible.
Larry Allman, Senior Counselor, WIPO
“Unfortunately Belize is not one of the member states of WIPO. We have 171 member states; Belize unfortunately is not one of them. We want Belize to join our organization and we want to start the flow of technical assistance as well as other assistance regarding intellectual property into Belize. This is what we do; we are a specialized agency within the United Nations and our mandate is to enhance the protection of intellectual property protection which is copyrights, trade marks, patent, geographical indications, etc, etc.”
Minister Bradley says the government of Belize is committed to addressing the issue of copyright and that they will get on with the business of protecting the works of Belizeans by the January first deadline. Presently there is draft legislation that has been sent to Glenn Tillett, Chairman of the Belize Arts Council. When completed within the next month consultations will be held with artists and other interested citizens before the legislation is presented to the House and passed into law.
