The Copyright Amendment Bill: A New Vista for Fair Remuneration for South African Creators and Performers?

The South African Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) was passed by parliament on 29 February 2024. From the formal commencement of the legislative process for the enactment of the CAB, by way of its introduction to parliament in 2017 to its eventual passage and afterwards, there has been very serious debate about whether or not the CAB will live up to the objectives it is formulated to achieve. The debate has mainly been centred around the limitations and exceptions the CAB seeks to introduce into the copyright regime in South Africa. This debate has the effect of blurring other key proposals in the CAB that are geared towards ensuring and promoting fair remuneration for creators and performers in South Africa’s creative industries. Building on previous work and based on desk research, this report undertakes an in-depth analysis of key clauses in the CAB relating to equitable remuneration and fair royalty, reversionary right, licensing of orphan works, artist resale royalty and regulation of collective management organisations (CMOs) in order to illuminate and ignite debate on the CAB’s proposals aimed at ensuring fair remuneration for South African creators and performers.