Dear Editor,
Stabroek News’ editorial on Monday, October 29, 2018, provided for interesting reading, more so given that some arguments proffered were not contextually based, not fully at least.
The editorial, in stressing the need for copyright legislation, took issue with comments made by former president, Bharrat Jagdeo, and raised several points.
The former president is quoted to have said: “We are a poor developing country. Wait until such time in the future when people can afford to pay for the copyrighted stuff. That is how I see it. It may not sound like the most enlightened position given that you have international treaties and stuff but half of those treaties don’t protect us small countries. They don’t protect our interests”.
One, the editorial talks about photocopied text books and the need for copyright legislation to stop this practice. I have a simple question for the author of that editorial, when one text book costs thousands of dollars and many low income families survive on a minimum of $15,000 a week, how are people sending their children to school? I would vote for a government that reduces burdens on families trying to make a better life for their children, over one that would do the opposite, any day. Already the $10,000 cash grant to help with transportation for children has been taken away and in total that was about $1.6 billion a year. So how can the former president be wrong when he advocates for a delay in passing copyright legislation until people can afford to pay for the copyrighted stuff?
Two, Stabroek News states that
under the former president’s tenure “Guyana’s development languished” and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is to be blamed for the economy’s performance. Editor, most all of Guyana is aware of the fact that Guyana’s economy under the Jagdeo presidency saw consistent economic growth and saw Guyana being one of the fastest growing economies in the Caribbean. Also, it was under a PPP/C government that Guyana was reclassified from being a Heavily Indebted Poor Country.
Three, Stabroek News argues that the absence of copyright legislation will undermine international commitments, for example under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). However, as I said earlier, the arguments raised are not completely grounded in the context of real time occurrences. Legislation does not guarantee compliance by countries that sign onto treaties. As recent as June 2018, Antigua and Barbuda was still battling with the United States of America (USA) to have it comply with a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling. Antigua and Barbuda went to the WTO in 2003 and eventually won the right to compensation of US$21 million annually after the WTO judges upheld its complaint that US laws were discriminatory. The US has not paid and Antigua and Barbuda has lost US$315 million so far, equivalent to more than a quarter of its annual GDP and less than 0.1 per cent of the U.S. economy, according to a Reuters report on June 22, 2018.
Four, the editorial said that the former president is “rushing to the aid of the same oligarchs” who would be in immediate jeopardy once legislation is updated. Who are the oligarchs? Are the schoolchildren, the hundreds of thousands of Guyanese who will be affected and the small vendors the oligarchs that Stabroek News is referring to?
The only oligarch here seems to be Stabroek TV Inc., which has a monopoly with the distribution of DirecTV. It is companies like Stabroek TV Inc. that would benefit once the copyright legislation in place. The cost charged to set this up is a whopping 45,000, plus a monthly fee. How much more will this cost increase once legislation is in place? How much more revenues will the company rake in? So is this argument about some companies being made to pay more? Or about Stabroek TV Inc. being able to make more?
Fifthly, editor, copyright legislation is not just about the DVDs and music, as the Stabroek News tries to focus on. It is also about software. Has Stabroek News paid monies to Microsoft for using its ‘Word’ and other software, such as the very expensive Adobe Creative Suites? Has Stabroek News paid for its Servers’ operating system, as well as operating systems for users? Has Stabroek News paid for the software, which is used in the press department and needed to allow for the printing of its daily newspaper? Has Stabroek News paid for its anti-virus software? I have to point out that these are not one-off payments that have to be made. Payments for these software are either monthly or yearly subscriptions.
There must be an acknowledgement that there are wider impacts to the proposal to implement copyright legislation.
Finally, the Stabroek News editorial created the impression that nothing was said by the former president about protecting local content. The former president said clearly: “We should protect the copyrighted material for our local artists.”
Yours faithfully,
Kumar Kowlessar
Editor’s note: Stabroek TV Inc is the agent for DirecTV and is also affected by piracy here. There are many competitors in the cable market, Stabroek TV Inc does not have a monopoly.
Stabroek News does purchase various types of software for its operations.
