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4 Juta's Bus. L. 49 (1996)
Dig That Digital: Copyright Law and New Technology

handle is hein.journals/jutbusil4 and id is 49 raw text is: VOL 4 PART 2 Wend Wendland Dig that digital Copyright law and new technology Important revisions to copyright law are being considered in the light of new digital and other technology. A vast technological development is changing the way people communicate with each other, share information, and are entertained. It is perhaps best described as the 'convergence' of computing, telecommunications, and broadcast- ing technology. The Internet and similar services are the early products of this process which, it is hoped, will expand into the 'information super- highway'. However, the new technology will not reach its full potential if the information - whether in the form of words, sounds, data, or visual images - which it carries is inadequately protected. The coming of the new technology has therefore prompted a revision of copyright law at interna- tional treaty level. This review also seeks to take into account technology which has appeared since the last revision of copyright law at international level many decades ago. The new technology includes home-recording devices and satellite broadcasting. A vast technological development is chang- ing the way people communicate with each other, share information, and are entertained The revisions appear in two new draft treaties being negotiated by about 65 countries, one of which is South Africa. The negotiations are held in Geneva, Switzerland. It is planned that the treaties will be settled at a diplomatic conference sched- uled for the first three weeks of December this year. If, as seems likely, South Africa accedes to the treaties, then for the sake of compliance with them our Copyright Act 98 of 1978 and our Performers' Protection Act 11 of 1967 will have to be amended. Some of the more important proposals put for- ward for inclusion in the treaties are the following: * Compulsory licences for the sound recording of music should be abolished. As section 14 of the Copyright Act provides for these licences, their abolition may affect existing practices in the music industry. * The authors of copyright works should be granted the right to control the distribution, importation, and rental of their works. * The authors of copyright works should be granted a 'transmission right' to regulate the digital and other transmission of their works. Private (home) copying should be regulated. * The performers and producers of sound record- ings (recorded music and other works) should be granted the right to prevent the distribution, importation, rental, adaptation, communication to the public (such as broadcasting), and the digital transmission of their works. * Performers should be granted moral rights. * Measures should be introduced to prevent the marketing and sale of devices which can evade encryption systems. This suggestion is particu- larly important for people who offer any kind of subscription service. * Non-original databases which represent a 'sub- stantial investment' should be protected. This proposal would protect databases not subject to copyright protection. Some of these proposals are particularly controver- sial. One is whether the rights to be granted to performers should cover audiovisual works. The issue is very important to performers as well as to the motion picture and television industries. ISSN 1021 - 7061

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