Tanzania: New Copyright amendments

Last June an amendment to the The Copyright And Neighbouring Rights Act, through The Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No.3) Act, 2019, entered into force. In addition to copyright act, other acts have been amended, such as The Companies Act, The Films And Stage Plays Act, among others.

The main amendments to the Copyright Act are as follows:

• Replace of the term “COURT” to ““court means the court of competent jurisdiction;”. Since the definition of “Court” has been expanded and not limited, it is now clear that the author will be able to appeal to the same court in order to solve the infringement of his copyright and seek proper compensation.
• Inclusion of the right to benefit from re-sale;
• It is now clear that anyone that intends to use a work protected under the law must be authorized by the copyright holder copyright.
• In case of using protected material for commercial purposes the fine is increased to 20 million shillings or 30% of the value of pirated material, depending on the higher value, or subject to an imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years. In addition, a paragraph on recurrence is added. If the offender is a legal person regulated by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, the person may be subjected to suspension in accordance with the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority Act.”
• Inclusion of contracts registration’s contracts within the scope of the COSOTA (Copyright Society of Tanzania).

These amendments are narrowing the effectiveness of copyright protection in Tanzania contributing to a greater safety for intellectual creators.