Greetings to the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs
Above all else, at this juncture of efforts to bring the Copyright Administrative Unit in operation again under the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, you are herein being greeted with this impartation of the degree of preparedness of the Secretariat of the Copyright Administrative Unit, for the accomplishment of the national income-earning administration of the protection of the economic and moral rights of copyrights owners in Sierra Leone. These are the writers, actors, arts and craft people, and most of all the musicians.
In fact this epistle summarises the details of the ninety-three page package of working documents been formulated by the SLIPO Secretariat, in conformity with the key strategic issues and recommended projects in the first draft of the Intellectual Property Needs Evaluation document that was prepared in 2011 by the WIPO Kenyan IP specialists [Mrs Rose Mboya, Head of IP Division, Kenyan Industrial Research and Development Institute and Dr Marsella Ouma, Executive Director of Kenyan Copyright Board], that was submitted to the Administrator and Registrar General of Sierra Leone Mrs Seray Kallay, as the Intellectual Property Development Plan (IPDP), for the government of Sierra Leone.
Accordingly, the prescribed enhancement of the level of awareness has been handled in the Secretariat’s Needs Assessment Negotiable instrument, with the required budget estimate that the government, ECOWAS, WIPO, UNDP, IMF, UNIDO, DFID, JICA, NORAD, SIDA, World Bank and other development partners in the country can help the Copyright Administrative Unit to enhance the level of awareness.
Copyright laws have been strengthened in the Copyright Act 2011 and, as stipulated too, the policy framework has been reinforced in the pertinent provisions of the Act and in the relevant passages on the wise adoption of concepts, approaches and mechanisms of developed countries, in the Organisational Structure document and the Bulletin on copyright protection, that has to be published.
Matters of training and capacity building shall be strengthened through provision of training opportunities by WIPO and ECOWAS, within the framework of their technical assistance and development programs for officials, copyright owners, custom officials and police officers to acquire the knowledge of administration of copyright protection, enforcement of anti-piracy laws, border measures and policing of copyright theft within the country.
Protection of copyright works shall be promoted by the government’s approval of (a) SLIPO’s implementation plan of action (b) the Budget Estimate in the Needs Assessment Paper and (c) the request for in-kind contribution of ICT and transportation facilities, to enable the Copyright Administrative Unit to execute its duty efficiently, all over the country. Items (b) and (c) can receive intervention and additional input by pertinent development partners outlined above.
Copyright enforcement mechanism has been well formulated in the copyright protection bulletin volume; based on the provision of the Copyright Act 2011, and the prescribed technical know-how in WIPO’s and other international treaties and conventions that Sierra Leone is a party to.
Modernisation of the copyright system has discourse upon it in the formulated Standard Operating System in the Charter and the Organisational Structure documents. In the organisational structure, the appropriate designations and terms of reference have been created to ensure that the unit renders its best of service to the government, the copyright owners and the other entities [including the small and medium-sized enterprises] that are under its jurisdiction.
Most of all, enhancement of the use of copyright works for national economic development has been strategized in the details of execution of duties by the Copyright Administrative Unit as the Collecting Society domestically; and through the regional, multi-national and bilateral royalty collecting agreement, to be brought to being among the ECOWAS states, in the near future.
Establishment of the relevant copyrights support structures shall be brought forth by national copyright-conscious business entrepreneurs and/or foreign investors, in the mid to long term future.
Concretely, this is how the road-map and the blue-print has been engrossed so consummate and get the autonomous Copyright Administrative Unit in functional re-establishment!
Judiciously, as the Administrator and Registrar General exhorted the former Minister last year, a Desk Office ought to be opened at once for the Executive Secretary to finish up the implementation secretarial chores.
Thus, your due consideration and expedited affirmative action are herein solicited!
Best regards!
Peeble Romer
Executive Secretary
Sierra Leone Intellectual Property Organization (SLIPO)
(C) Politico 03/05/16
