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Deputy Minister directs Copyright Office on use of technology, distribution of royalties

Copyright

THE Deputy Minister for Information, Communication, and Information Technology, Kundo Mathew has directed the Copyright Office of Tanzania to closely work with other government institutions in using technology to  improve royalties collections and distribution to copyright holders.

The Deputy Minister made these remarks during the second ABC Annual Symposium 2022 on Friday in Dar es Salaam where he insisted investing in technology for the Copyright Office will increase trust from the stakeholders.

He, therefore, advised the Copyright Office to associate with institutions such as Information and Communication Technologies Commission (ICTC) and Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) that are directly linked with technological development.

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“We need to work together as a government and not as an isolated entity…Copyright Office of Tanzania can work with the Information and Communication Technologies Commission (ICTC) to improve certain areas, by doing so you will gain greater trust for your stakeholders.

He added that doing that will increase transparency, and make artists, or any art stakeholders aware of the collection of income and its distribution.

“The way the world is going now, needs technology, the world is going very fast, and involving ICTC, will help you develop a better system and bring more transparency.

“These are revenue collections that involve many stakeholders, including TCRA and the government itself. The Copyright Office needs to have a platform where someone might go in and find details of the amount collected from the users of musicians’ works.”

“…when you announce there is royalties distribution, all beneficiaries know how much they deserve to earn and the government revenue; that is transparent.

“We have to set an example that we are determined to help these people.”

Deputy Minister added by doing this, the income to the youth will increase, the industry will be stable, and the value of art will increase and thus contribute to a large income for the nation through taxes.

During the occasion, the Copyright Office of Tanzania held an independent forum that brought stakeholders of creative artists and content creators.

Through the forum, the stakeholders had the opportunity to discuss how content holders can benefit from their creative works through legal and digital transformation.

During the session, the content holders together with their association leaders met with attorneys from ABC Attorneys and acquainted the stakeholders with knowledge of the legal rights and benefits they get when their intellectual properties are registered to the copyright office.

The Copyright Administrator, Copyright Office of Tanzania Doreen Sinare said they invited the lawyers to provide legal education to artists on how they can protect their work and the contracts they enter with companies and different stakeholders from within the country and abroad.

ABC’s Advocate Sunday Ndamugoba lauded the Copyright Office for organising such a said legal forum for copyright holders in the country.