Local copyright activists warn of US-SACU bilaterals
Local copyright activists, including Denise Nicholson of the ‘Africa Copyright and Access to Information Alliance’, have warned of the negative implications that the U.S. trade negotiations with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) could have on education, libraries, public health, internet service providers, and access to digital media. She urges researchers, the educational sector, libraries and library associations, literacy and consumer groups, as well as departments of education, science and technology, public health, etc. in SACU countries (i.e. in SA, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia) to address this matter urgently with their respective trade offices before these provisions are adopted. ‘Intellectual property provisions in the US free trade agreement (FTA) far exceed the requirements of the TRIPS Agreement which SACU countries have signed. These provisions (known as TRIPS Plus) also include extension of the copyright term for a further 20 years, which will have a huge impact on material in the public domain, availability and access to information and exchange of knowledge in SACU countries - all net importers of IP.’
According to ‘bilaterals.org‘, the talks were stalled in 2004, but are set to resume in July this year. Tralac intern, Gus Mandigora says, ‘Increased protection for US intellectual property may deal a heavy blow to the region’s fight against HIV/AIDS while increased investment protection may usurp the individual countries’ ability to regulate the nature, conduct and impact of US investment.’ Bianca Mathe gets some great responses to her question of whether SACU has a choice not to accept the provisions, asking: ‘Should SACU thus cut to the chase and accept the ‘agreement’ that the US is proposing?’