It was a tough outing for Safaricom yesterday as Parliament dealt it two blows with the Copyright Amendment Bill which cleared its third reading with victory for artistes, and TV rights owners.
The Bill had drawn rival interests around two areas: illegal streaming of content, and revenue share for ring back tunes between artistes, and Safaricom.
Live sports enthusiasts have long used unofficial streaming sites to watch football matches and other sports which normally are under exclusive broadcasting rights for the region. The Copyright Act requires that networks block access to, or take down such content, when notified by the rights holders. The proposed amendment, would have struck down these provisions leaving rights holders powerless to enforce their Intellectual Property rights.
"The amendments are not progressive, they are retrogressive therefore we cannot carry them...,” Gladys Wanga, who had tabled the Bill, told the MPs during the Committee of the Whole House.
In addition, Safaricom will have to increase the amount it pays to artistes for having their music on its ring back tunes to at least52% of the revenue, and ensure the money is paid to them directly instead of middlemen.
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