the Copyright and Neighbouring Act, 2006 and the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Regulations, 2010.
Application of the Act (Section 3)
The Act applies to any work, including work created or published before the commencement of the Act. Under section 9 of the Act, the owner of a protected work has the exclusive right to do or authorize other people to publish, produce or reproduce the work; to distribute or make available to the public the original or copies of the work through sale or other means of transfer of ownership; to perform the work in public; to communicate the work to the public by wire or wireless means or through any other means… including through the internet; where the work is pre-existing work, to make a derivate work; to commercially rent or sell original or copies of the work; to do, in relation to that work any act known or to be known in the future; or to reproduce transcription into Braille which is accessible to blind persons.
Moral rights under section 10; are recognized independently of the author’s economic rights and they continue even in the case of transfer of the economic right.
Duration of copyright protection (Section 13)
The terms of protection of copyright for audio-visual work, sound recording or broadcast, the economic rights of the author are protected for fifty years from the date of making the work or from the date the work is made available to the public with the consent of the author.
The owner of a copyright may as if it were movable property assign, licence, transfer or bequeath to another person the economic rights in a copyright in whole or in parts; and transfer to any braille production unit in Uganda the economic rights in the Braille translation.
The application for registration of an assignment or transfer shall be in Form 4 specified in Schedule 2 to the Regulations. The application shall state—
i. the name and registered address of the author and owner of the copyright or neighbouring rights;
ii. the name, trade or business and the description of the assignor or transferor of a copyright or neighbouring rights;
iii. particulars of the instrument, if any, under which the interest is claimed;
iv. the limitations in the assignment or transfer, and shall address issues on whether or not the assignment is limited to—
a. some of the assignor's rights;
b. a part of the term of copyright; or
c. a specified country or geographical area.
The application for registration of an assignment or transfer shall be accompanied by—
a. a copy of the instrument, if any, under which the title is claimed; and
b. an application fee prescribed in Schedule 3 to the Regulations.
The certificate of registration of assignment shall be in Form 5 specified in Schedule 2 to these Regulations.
Copyright infringement (Section 46)
Infringement of copyright or neighbouring right occurs where, without a valid transfer, license, assignment or other authorisation under this Act a person deals with any work or performance contrary to the permitted free use and in particular where that person does or causes or permits another person to reproduce, fix, duplicate, extract, imitate or import into Uganda otherwise than for his or her own private use; distribute in Uganda by way of sale, hire, rental or like manner; or exhibit to the public for commercial purposes by way of broadcast, public performance or otherwise.
The use of a piece of work in a manner prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the author shall be deemed an infringement of the right of the owner of the right.
Civil remedies (Section 45)
The Act provides civil remedies so that a person whose rights are in imminent danger of being infringed or are being infringed may institute proceedings in the commercial court for an injunction to prevent the infringement or to stop the continuation of the infringement.
Administration of Copyright
Section 41 of the Act, provides for a Registrar of Copyright and other officers. The Registrar’s office shall be the National Copyright Information Centre.
The Registrar shall process applications for licenses; register works and productions to be registered under this Act; register collecting societies; give guidance to and discipline collecting societies; register assignments, licences and transfers of copyrights; register copyright contracts relating to exploitation of rights; provide copyright and neighbouring rights information service to the public and users of copyright works; in collaboration with the collecting societies, advise Government, on matters relating to copyright and neighbouring rights; perform any other duty or function relating to copyrights, neighbouring rights and collecting societies as may be necessary for the better functioning of this Act or as the Minister may by regulation prescribe.
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