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Anti Piracy Board under fire |
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Tuesday, 14 February 2012 17:21 |
 The Anti-Piracy Board of Zimbabwe has come under fire from stakeholders in the music industry who blame the inspectorate for playing a role in assisting piracy and failing to protect the copyrights of musicians.
The accusations follow the resignation of board members, a move that has prompted other stakeholders to take the board chairman to task.
Stakeholders say Zimbabwe as a member of the Ben Convention, which is designed to safeguard the rights of artists, must not leave a loophole that allows any retailer to produce and sell audio-visual works of both local and international artists.
The stakeholders, who brought receipts issued by the board during a stakeholders’ meeting held on the 20th of December last year, accuse the Board Chairman, Mr Innocent Matsengarwodzi of promoting piracy of artists’ audio-visual works by charging and licensing street vendors.
However, Mr Matsengarwodzi denied the accusations, pointing out that his organisation will not protect copyrights of international artists.
While the argument continues, piracy activities have increased and are becoming a brisk business for street vendors.
Musicians, who have the rights and are the creators of the pirated works, bear the brunt of such activities.
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