I was delighted to read Linda Ensor's article and would like to express special thanks to my colleague, Owen Dean, for his extremely critical comments (“Ramaphosa sends ‘atrocious’ copyright bill to Constitutional Court”, October 15).
I have been to Stellenbosch several times as a guest professor and know the young students in particular, with whom I wrote a book about art law in SA as part of the Art Law Clinic.
In this context, I regret to say that my colleague has done himself and his cause a disservice. His comments are largely wrong — the basic idea of fair use, for example, comes from American copyright law. The idea of a reversion of copyrights after a few years is a feature of French and German copyright law.
Furthermore, the legislative project is a result of SA’s international obligations, namely the famous Marrakesh Treaty in favour of the use of works by and for the benefit of the blind.
It is a disgrace that SA’s international legal obligations are being trampled on like this. The critics hide behind the interests of alleged creators, but in reality they mean the interests of a content industry such as Walt Disney & Co.
That the content industry buys up legal experts in copyright law to such an extent is another scandal. The president should finally sign the bill that has long since been passed by parliament. It is an absurdity to make oneself the lackey of rich exploiters.
Prof Thomas Hoeren
Münster, Germany, and Stellenbosch
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