Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday hinted at updating the country’s copyright legislation.
Following the recent move by Guyanese musicians Jackie ‘Jackie Jaxx’ Hanover and Ivan D’Ivan Harry to file a lawsuit valuing US$1.6M in the United States against One Communications for the unauthorised use of their musical compositions “Guyana” and “Oh Guyana”, Jagdeo was asked about local laws to protect Guyanese artistes.
During his weekly press conference at Freedom House, the Vice President said he did not support copyright laws previously due to the lack of original content in circulation in Guyana.
“I do not want to get into that contentious debate but a lot of our people don’t pay for any content on the internet, on television, on radio, I think even in this room here, there may be entities that infringe on international copyright,” he told media operatives.
However, recent developments and increased access to streaming platforms, theatres and original content have changed this reality.
“People’s income levels have grown now and I think they get their content now from more sources that they can actually pay for like online streaming and so on…therefore my initial position has changed,” he said.
Speaking solely about the protection of local artistes, he said “I believe our artistes should be protected.”
Therefore, he said, “we may very well have to update,” the copyright laws.
The Vice President said the updates have also become necessary since some companies require such protection before coming to Guyana.
