Copyright and the Public Interest
Africa and the Global South Conference, 2025
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA HIGHLIGHTS THE URGENCY OF COPYRIGHT REFORMS
The cost of excluding billions of people in Africa and the Global South from access to knowledge could be huge for future generations. Knowledge-sharing in Africa is not always transactional, and the existing IP and copyright paradigms are not working for creators or audiences on the continent. Creators are often poorly remunerated and audiences cannot afford access to knowledge and entertainment. Many global corporations take an extractive and exploitative approach to African creativity. We need a new knowledge governance system to address these concerns and to take into account the role of traditional and indigenous knowledge. The passing of the South African Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) is more urgent than ever!
These were the conclusions of an international conference entitled “Copyright and the Public Interest: Africa and the Global South” held last month in South Africa. The convenors were ReCreate South Africa, a coalition of creators and users of copyright material and the conference took place at the Mandela Institute, Law School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (3 February), at the University of Cape Town Library (5 February) and at Innovation City in conjunction with the University of Cape Town IP Unit (6 February). This conference was a follow-on from ReCreate’s inaugural conference on the “Right to Research in Africa” held at the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town in January 2023.
Watch Conference Sessions:
CONFERENCE PART 1: JOHANNESBURG, 03 February 2025
Mandela Institute, University of Witwatersrand, JOHANNESBURG
Chalsty Theatre, Law Faculty, West Campus, Yale Road
Theme: Using AI and Copyright Law to Meet Africa’s Challenges
Full Programme: blackstripe.live/programme
Session 1: AI for Good - Case studies from the African Continent
Session 2: The Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) in South Africa and HumanRights - Beating the Constitutional Challenge
Session 3: Copyright Reform in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Namibia
Session 4: Works in Progress Panel Discussion
CONFERENCE PART 2: CAPE TOWN, 06 February 2025
Innovation City, Darter Studios, Darter Road, Longkloof, Gardens
Theme: An African Agenda for Knowledge Equity and Traditional Knowledge
Full Programme: blackstripe.live/programme
Session 5: The Constitutionality and Urgency of the Copyright Amendment Bill in South Africa
Session 6: Accessing & Protecting African Knowledge, Knowledge Systems and Knowledge Equity, and Combatting Data Colonialism & Recognising Traditional Knowledge: A Global South Agenda
Session 7: WIPO’s Copyright Agenda - The Broadcast Treaty, Limitations and Exceptions, AI & Other Issues.