masukuma wrote:
Can tell me how Africa benefits from the current intellectual property regime?
Consider the following,
1. Find out how much money 50 Cent offered Chinua Achebe for the use of the phrase "Things Fall Apart" as the title of the movie (FYI, Chinua turned down the offer). The last time I checked, Chinua was as African as the first gal I kissed
2. How much money was Fadhili William offered by Boney M's producers for doing a remix of the song Malaika? Fadhili William si ni Mdavida wa kwetu Kenya
3.If Africans did not benefit from IP regime then I would have taken Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Weep Not Child and titled it Shut up Child and made millions out of it, but I can't because Henry Chakava will sue me to the last Y-front I own. IP regime has ensured Ngugi and other writers make their millions.
4. Poxy Pressure revamped the Music Copyright Society and now musicians earn royalty from their work and can sue you if you dare perform their songs fwaaa
5. Thanks to the hard work by Prof. Peter Wasamba of the Litt dept. at UoN now even oral literature performances are covered by IP Act so our ohangla musicians on the streets will soon start earning from their performances
6. Oxford University Press took Longhorn Publishers to court claiming they had plagiarized their Kamusi. Pray, how does one plagiarize a kamusi? hehe I told you IP laws are known clearly even in Africa, so don't say "WE don't understand" say "I and afew others don't understand IP regime", but just know this it is there and it supports a whole industry
"Money never sleeps"