Information Minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha has disclosed that about US$ 37 million worth of pirated video and audio materials were last year destroyed by government through numerous seizures of pirated and counterfeit products.
Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha says the exercise showed how much artists and government are losing through piracy and counterfeits although most of the works that were destroyed were of foreign origin.
ZANIS reports that Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha said this in a speech read on his behalf by Information Permanent Secretary Dr. Sam Phiri during the official opening of a three-day World Intellectual Property Organisation-Africa regional meeting on copyright and related rights in Lusaka today.
The meeting which has drawn participants from Zambia and other countries in Africa among them Gambia, Kenya and Ghana has jointly been organized by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) and government.
Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha stressed that government attaches great importance to the promotion and protection of intellectual property rights as demonstrated by the numerous seizures of pirated and counterfeit products from the markets across the country.
He said intellectual property provides employment to artists and creators hence the need of protecting the Intellectual Property Rights.
The Minister further noted that artists pay taxes such as Value Added Tax among others to government and that it was therefore important that intellectual property in general, copyright and other related rights in particular are respected to safeguard the rights holders.
Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha also announced that government has taken deliberate measures aimed at protecting intellectual property rights which includes the Amendment to the Performance Rights Act.
He added that all statutes governing industrial property are being reviewed to make laws compliant to the international treaties and conventions that Zambia is part of.
Meanwhile, the Minister has indicated that the country still faces a lot of challenges with regards to copyright administration among them lack of capacity to effectively run collective management organizations despite the efforts that government has been making.
He appealed to the two organisations to continue training officers from his ministry and other agencies involved in the administration of copyright and related rights as that would ensure that the country has an effective mechanism for administering intellectual property.
And WIPO Assistant Director General Trevor Clerk said counterfeit products are a serious concern on people’s health and that copyright undermines the rights of creators hence the need to have everyone’s involvement in addressing such issues.
He observed that the 21st century was entered with tremendous copyright challenges and his organization is mandated to protect intellectual property globally.
Speaking on his behalf by ARIPO Director Christopher Kiige, Director General Jeff Sibanda thanked government and the rest of the country for the support it has given to his organisation since its inception.
Mr. Sibanda hoped that the meeting would be used as a platform for crafting appropriate recommendations for full implantation of the mandate on copyright and related rights within the framework of his orgainisation.
ZANIS
let this people clean up Kapiri Mposhi as well
Lt colonel Shikapwasha of red arrows who became a Lt gen by default and asslicking.The biggest thief at Zambian mission in Tanzania and a fake pastor.Nobody believes what you say.You are a good “Minister of denial” We all remember when Bwezani was pictured in Livingstone with Dora how you accused the journalists of doctoring the pic until Bwezani confessed that they pic were geniune.You can lick any dick to keep your position, you shameless moron just shut up
Ati US 37 million? Shuwa mudala? Not ZMK, hmm
Rubbish B’s henchmen will say anything to get 4 more years of thieving. But when the end comes, it comes and aint no amount of garb is going to reverse that.
Goodbye – Rubbish Banda, Goodbye MMD ha, ha, ha, ha,
Pirated goods should only be destroyed if they are Zambian brands or art work by Zambian artists. If our own people are pirating foreign goods then by all means our government should just turn a blind eye, stop stifling entrepreneurship and protecting intellectual property rights of rich countries.
Does this man really know what US$37m look like? Or someone told him that or he does not know dollar maths. Anyway to help this chap US$37m is about 175,565,000,756.55 Zambian kwacha. I now wonder how many of these poor guys lost this kind of money! Just create more jobs and you will have no piracy problems. People also want to survive. I end here!
I agree with the Atheist. How did the Japanese (and now the Chinese) get to where they are? They copied products from developed countries (without permission!) and then developed their own. Pleasing the West won’t get you anywhere.
The greatest counterfeit we have is the leadership who have lamentably failed to curb or at least control piracy. Desperate times call for desperate speeches