If President Cyril Ramaphosa is serious about stimulating the economy and transforming the executive into an effective, competent and accountable organ of government, he needs to remind trade and industry minister Rob Davies of that fact. When it comes to the custodianship of our intellectual property law, it does not appear that the department of trade and industry has received that message. On October 12 the portfolio committee on trade and industry yet again drip-fed another series of proposed amendments to the Copyright Act of 1978. In its now familiar and highly questionable approach to passing potentially damaging and far-reaching legislation, stakeholders were given a mere 10 days to make submissions on the latest proposed amendments. There is no point in mincing my words about the passage of the proposed Copyright Amendment Bill thus far: it has been shambolic and would embarrass a banana republic. The reason the portfolio committee arrogated to itself the responsibility of ...

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