By Joseph Mtebe

It is weeks now since ‘Tandale’, a song by up-and-coming artiste 'Gold’ was released.

The song became an instant hit, and enjoys vast air play in the media. Apparently, the song is a sampled version of Diamond’s original composition 'Mbagala'. Prior to Gold’s efforts in Tandale, another artiste, Tanzanite, had sampled the same song, which he called ‘Kafara.’ As the two versions continue to excite audiences, what is even more interesting to know is that both artistes sampled the work without the consent of the original composer.

In doing this, the artistes infringed copyright, an exclusive right granted and reserved to the author to disclose, disseminate, reproduce in any manner or means. Diamond is not alone, recently, a popular Taarab singer, Mzee Yusuf, told this writer that he had caught a truckload full of pirated copies of his new album.

There are many other familiar cases of piracy in Tanzania that don’t require expertise to tell. In the streets, vendors sell pirated copies in broad day light at give away prices.  According to Mr Yustus Mkinga of the Copyright Society of Tanzania, these actions deprive artistes of the much-needed income.

And as the fight against piracy and other forms of infringement of intellectual property gains momentum, artistes accuse Cosota, a watchdog set up by the law in 1999 for the protection of copyright, of being toothless.

Is Cosota really toothless? Diamond, for example, is yet to see the organ’s ruling become effective, because despite banning Tanzanite’s sampled version, ‘Kafara’ is still unbelievably playing on various radio stations and TV. The ruling follows a decision reached by the dispute hearing committee of Cosota, which recently met to discuss the matter.

“We summoned both parties, in accordance with the powers we are vested with under Section 47 of the Copyrights and Neighbouring Act, and Tanzanite admitted that his song, ‘Kafara’ is in substance arising out of Diamond’s ‘Mbagala," said Mr Yustus. Tanzanite’s defense was that he knew work was not originally his, but had not intention to use it for commercial purposes. “The whole argument is awkward; you can’t take a copyrighted material, perform it and ask for owners' consent later.

It is just not acceptable,” Mr Mkinga says.  It is from this that Cosota and the dispute hearing committee decided to ban the young artiste’s work and promised to go public about it soon. Unfortunately, up to date, nothing has happened, and the song is still booming.

With regard to the other version of ‘Mbagala’ called ‘Tandale,’ which has been done by ‘Gold', Cosota claimed not being aware of it, and they were yet to receive any formal complaints about the song.  Piracy In February Cosota destroyed three tonnes of pirated work. Their main setback, says Mkinga, is the fact that the pirated works aren’t sold openly.

“The work isn't sold in shops as the artistes say, so we are doing a lot of work because as I speak, we have many cases in courts all over the country, and we go even to interior hideouts to catch people who engage in this business." According to the anti-piracy chief,  the areas that are notorious  for forged work in Dar es Salaam include, Yombo vituka, Tandika, Kiwalani, Buguruni, and Ubungo (at the traffic lights).

In those areas, he said, a month can’t pass without cases of pirates caught. In Yombo and Kiwalani, the pirates make copies of  films and audio CDs. These are also the suppliers in  regions other than Dar es Salaam.  The law The current law is being attacked for having too many loopholes, which make it impractical to fight piracy. One of the major weaknesses in the law is lenient punishment given to offenders.  “The maximum fine that an offender can be asked to pay is not more than Sh5 million, and a three-year maximum jail term," says the Cosota chief.

This limits the courts' discretion in giving requisite punishments. “We have begun the copyright law reform process, and we are involving all stakeholders. In fact, we are close to the final stages, and after this we will forward the draft to the relevant authorities."   But as the law is undergoing reforms, a new problem has emerged.

For about a month now, there have been CD collections of Bongo movies in Dar. “This is a calamity,” says. "We are still investigating this in collaboration with the police and regional copyright contacts of the Interpol.” Benjamin, of the Mambo Jambo, says the problem isn’t only with the law.

He has seen a number of his copied work, and couldn’t do anything about it.   “If you report to the police, you somehow have to scratch their back, and besides, you may only catch one person at Rose Garden, but there are a lot more other people doing the same illegal business all over.” Ends       

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