You Want Another Rap - Copyrighting Folklore

As a keen follower of Copyright and Intellectual Property issues I was very much excited when I heard about the President's efforts to copyright a song entitled 'You Want Another Rap' . For those who may not know, the President of Uganda released a song to be used in his campaigns for the upcoming elections in February 2011.

The song is an adaptation of a Runyankore Folk Song that has been sang by children and herdsmen for years. Having obtained the copyright application from the Registrar's office, I went ahead to analyse the application and share it with people in the trade of Copyright and one thing that stands out is that without doubt, this composition is a derivative work. There are not more than four statements that were added to the original lyrics and these are;

- Today these young people taught me about this Rap because I was not following what they are saying.
- You want another Rap???
- Yes Sevo
- That is wonderful now I know what you have been upto

Derivative works are acceptable for copyright registration and the Ugandan Copyright Act of 2006 is very clear on this. However, what is disturbing is that in the copyright application form, question 9 which asks the applicant “If the registration being sought is for derivative work, state the pre-existing work:...”. The applicant went ahead to indicate N/A meaning that there is no previous existing work or this section is not applicable to this registration. This in my view is a total lie. The applicant should be truthful and admit that while this folk song may not have been registered for copyright, it has been in existence for decades and thus qualifies to be in the public domain as a folk song. He should have admitted the truth while filling in this section of the application.

Copyright for the President can be justified for the additional works done to add value like the musical element. As for the additional lyrics, an argument can come up as to whether they add significant poetic or artistic value in order for it to pass the De Minimis test.

The Berne Convention on Copyright for which Uganda is a signatory under article 15(4) vests the power to the respective countries' legislation to determine how copyrighting works like folklore can be handled. Unfortunately, the Ugandan Copyright Act of 2006 is silent on the proactive protection of folklore unlike Ghana where the rights are vested in the state.

In my view, I believe that the copyright application by the President is flawed and needs bringing to order. Since the deadline for submission of comments and objections is 3rd February 2011, you can join me in filing comments on this application and ensuring that such a folk song does not leave the public domain and that we rectify what is not right with our copyright law especially as concerns our much loved Folklore. Otherwise nothing will stop the applicant if successful to in future charge any one presenting the original folk song in a public or challenge another artist who may want to remix this folk song to suit the times.

Wire