By Yunus S Saliu
The long awaited Copyright Law which the National Center for Arts and Culture has been expected to be in force for the past years is now gazette and published by the authority.
It could be recalled that the NCAC, for the past six years, has been working on the realization of the Copyright Law and it is now endorsed by the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Hamat Bah at the latter part of 2018 and recently published in the public gazette.
The Copyright Law published in the gazette, according to Hassoum Ceesay, acting Director General of NCAC also Director of Copyright Law, spelt out regulation of operation of the collecting society of The Gambia, how it will works which is now clear to everyone. Also in the regulation is how books and other copyright items can be registered.
The Director of Copyright Law who is elated about the new development urged every creator, artiste, film producer, authors among others to come forward and register their works and get their certificate without any delay. “The certificate is a proof of Copyright ownership that will show real creator of the registered items,” he explained.
The regulation, Hassoum added, also points out who and who should pay license or copyright and very soon NCAC will be collecting license from producers, publishers, printers, and distributors “and that’s a wonderful development as far as Copyright is concerned.”
