JAMCOPY and MOE Copyright Infringement – UWI License to Kill in a Clash of the Titans

And whether you’re an honest man or whether you’re a thief

Depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief

W.S. Gilbert, Utopia, Limited, I

The issue of Copyright protection for one intellectual property is a very serious issue still plaguing the local Jamaican Music Industry. A solution may soon be in grasp, if Jamaica follows the example of our American Cousins. Of what do I speak?

Just in case you have been under a proverbial Cone of Silence Get Smart (2008) Style, the US Government has been shutting down File Sharing Networks such as Limewire in a bid to make money from Online and Physical Disc sales of  Digital Video and Music as stated in my blog article entitled “UWI and Piracy - The Real Pirate Bay” and the article “UWI and Piracy - Release the Kraken”. Good idea, as that money can wean the US Government off its insatiable appetite for using Treasury Bills to borrow money!

Telecoms Providers and ISP (Internet Service Providers), under pressure form Hollywood Studios, have decided to follow the French and High Authority for Dissemination of Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi) and threaten Millennials [ages 18 to 28] with lifetime bans for Digital Video and Music Piracy in a “six-strikes-your-out” system dubbed the Copyright Alert System as stated in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Copyright Alert System - Pirates on Stranger Tides experience Pain au chocolat”.

Their efforts appear to be showing signs of success, with Nielsen SoundScan recording 1% growth in sales figures for albums, both Digital Online and Physics Discs in July 2011AD over a six (6) month period, the first such growth after years of decline as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Nielsen Soundscan 1% Rise in Music Album Sales - Greg Sandoval's FireStarter”.

A similar measure is desperately needed in Jamaica involving the cooperation of the Government of Jamaica, the local Telecom Providers and copyright watchdog JAMCOPY (Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency). Already, JAMCOPY located at Building 3, 17 Ruthven Road in Kingston, has signed agreements with the US Government that retroactively protect Jamaican and American Intellectual Property in each other jurisdictions since 2004AD as stated in the article “Ja/US move to protect authors”, published Wednesday, April 28, 2004, The Jamaica Observer.

Shirley Carby of JIPO (Jamaica Intellectual Property Office) and chairman of JAMCOPY, then intoned the eventual intentions of JAMCOPY, quote: “We are now preparing to negotiate with the Ministry of Education....and we intend to do the same with universities and then private institutions”. A noble ambition, being launched on an equally noble World Copyright Day on Monday April 26 2004AD!

Fast forward to the year 2011AD, a good seven (7) years into the future and very little headway has been made in this area of protecting the Intellectual Property in printed form. Granted, JAMCOPY has now began collecting royalties on behalf of authors of printed material and has up to December 2010AD, disbursed up to about JA$3.3 million to two hundred and five (205) copyright holders as stated in the article “JAMCOPY distributes $3.3 million in royalties”, published Thursday, December 16, 2010, The Jamaica Observer.

JAMCOPY states that, quote: “This is good news for the students, lecturers and administrators of those eight colleges, who will now be able to make legitimate copies from image and text-based copyright material published in Jamaica and 30 other countries.” However, left out of the Copyright Act loop are the UWI (University of the West Indies) and the Ministry of Education, a Ministry with which JAMCOPY has been in negotiations since 2006AD to have signed on to getting a license that allows them to copy and reproduce the work of their registered members.

If this sounds strange in a world with computers, Scanners and the Internet, rest assured it is not.

Disclosure: One of the easiest ways to Pirate Books on the UWI is to simply scan them using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software such as ABBY Fine Reader Professional 10.0 and upload to the Internet as a PDF file for fellow University Students to download, a task no more difficult and no different from ripping a CD (Compact Disc) and putting it on your MP4 player or making bootleg copies of said CD’s.

CD’s by the way, JAMCOPY along with the JAPA (Jamaica Anti-Piracy Alliance) and the Jamaica Constabulary Force aka the Jamaican Police helped to destroy during Intellectual Property Week 2011 in April 2011AD as stated in the article “VIDEO: 1.2 million bootleg CDs destroyed”, published Saturday, April 16, 2011 BY SHAWN BARNES Observer video editor, The Jamaica Observer, roughly about one million two hundred thousand (1,200,000) CD and two hundred and twelve thousand (212,000) DVD’s.

The reverse is also true for E-Books too, from our American counterparts, which can be easily downloaded from the Internet from torrent sites such as KickAssTorrents, The Pirate Bay and 4Shared as I did while at the UWI studying for my Degree in Electronics and Chemistry in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences as stated in my blog article entitled “UWI and Piracy - The Real Pirate Bay” and the article “UWI and Piracy - Release the Kraken”. 

E-Books Readers such as the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes and Noble Nook can go a long way to protect printed material and modernize the UWI Library as stated in my blog article entitled “How UWI can save money in a recession”.

Hence JAMCOPY interest in getting the Ministry of Education and by extension the UWI signed up for a Licence to Kill (1989), JAMCOPY style as stated in the article “VIDEO: Copyright infringement by gov't schools continues”, published Tuesday, July 19, 2011 BY JANICE BUDD Associate editor - Sunday, The Jamaica Observer and the article “JAMCOPY turns focus on tertiary institutions”, published Tuesday, July 19, 2011 BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Senior staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer respectively.

The Internet, for the cash-strapped student, is their ultimate saviour. But the Intellectual Property of Copyright holders of works of art must be protected, especially from such large institutions that copy and reprint books with photocopiers and thanks to the Internet, have the ability to fuel a rapid proliferation of e-book Piracy as per my Geezam Blog entitled “Piracy and E-books in a Tale of Two Cities”.

A Local Writer’s Guild, in much the same way that other professions have a membership platform that speaks on their behalf and represents them, is also required to make writers more organized and offer Copyright protection to Jamaican authors, writers, poets, songwriters, programmers and bloggers who do not work for a large company or Statutory body as stated in the article “Wanted: A local writers' guild”, published Tuesday, July 19, 2011 by Alicia Dunkley, The Jamaica Observer.

Once Copyright holders of written or spoken material are members of a Writer’s Guild, which would naturally seek a JAMCOPY affiliation, you are automatically protected whenever your work is used without your permission. Thus, your case goes straight to the Copyright Tribunal as opposed to going through the long circuitous process of the Courts as JAMCOPY General Manager Carol Newman emphasizes.

Even the Intellectual Property of those us who gave away our ideas and songs but were caught on a hidden audio-visual device or recorded in some way, as this is the first form of Copyright according to JAMCOPY Vice Chairperson, Dianne Daley. Such as is my case back in April 2009AD while traveling with a bunch of brain-dead Shurpower Engineers and speaking out aloud and even singing (literally, I do remember!!) my creative ideas in songs.

That’s why, in case anyone is wondering about the Copyright of the Viral Video hit as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Daqri combines QR Codes with Augmented Reality - Ads and PR Minority Report Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and my Geezam blog article entitled “Social Media Marketing – Advertising and Marketing in Ja on a Shoe-String” nobody canna cross it!

So it is hoped that the Ministry of Education and by extension the UWI will cooperate with JAMCOPY and be Licence to Kill (1989), JAMCOPY style, as unwittingly, not only are they accelerating Printed and Online e-book piracy, but they may also be allowing foreigners to copy their Intellectual Property without knowing it.

A group effort by the Government of Jamaica and Local Telecom Providers and ISP’s, to take a page from our American cousins would also be helpful in stemming the distribution of Copyright Infringing Material aka Digital Music and Video Piracy over the Internet as Copyright protection works both ways in this Clash of the Titans (2010). 

Nielsen Soundscan 1% Rise in Music Album Sales - Greg Sandoval's FireStarter

There’s music in the sighing of a reed;

There’s music ion the gushing of a rill;

There’s music in all things, if men had ears:

Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.

Byron, Don Juan, XV

It seems that the Local Music Industry, which has taken a lot of flack from yours truly especially as it relates to the quality of Music et al as stated in my blog article entitled “Jamaican Music Industry 2 Years post-Ban - How Artiste and Booking Agents Launder Money”, may be seeing a curious uptick among it North American cousins.

This with the recently published results by analyst Nielsen SoundScan that indicate a 1% increase in U.S. Album sales for the six (6) month period ending July 2011AD as stated in the article “Nielsen SoundScan: Album sales inching up”, published JULY 6, 2011 4:01 PM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News.

RIAA (Recording Industry Artiste Association) 's CEO Mitch Bainwold, puts it into perspective, quote: “We're still an Industry that is hard hit by digital theft and half the size it was ten years ago. There's probably no one single reason (for the rise in sales), but improved marketing efforts ...and antipiracy successes like the closure of LimeWire have helped.”

This confirms news earlier in April 2011AD here in Jamaica Ring tones of the uptick in Music sales, particularly Digital Music and its use in Ringtones as stated in the article “Digital Music Sales up - Marley dominates local ring tone charts”, published Friday, April 08, 2011 by Steven Jackson, Observer staff Reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

Bob Marley getting most of the love on the Telecom Provider’s Networks heading the cattle drive for revenue from Music. Albeit not Album sales it is an indicator of possibly similar trend here in Jamaica, with a detailed study required to confirm a replicability of the Nielsens SoundScan’s results here in Jamaica.

For an Industry accustomed to doom and gloom news, this mere 1% uptick in Album sales is a shocker, as the usual scapegoat, piracy, seems to not be in play. This as, from an anecdotal point of view, people opt to download singles and make their own Music playlists, often due to the poor quality of Music, which is no enticement to buy an Album, be it in digital download or Physical Disc format.

The extent of the Music Recording Industry can be seen from the graph below, as I personally had no idea that so many means of distribution existed for Music.

It may have to do with continued US Government crackdown on piracy in 2010AD, led by Senator Joe Biden, in a bid to extract sales tax from online purchases by discouraging copyright infringement and encouraging legitimate purchases as stated in my blog article entitled “UWI and Piracy - The Real Pirate Bay” and the article “UWI and Piracy - Release the Kraken”.

Analyst NPD had reported the percentage of online users downloading music via P2P services in the fourth quarter of 2010 was 9%, a significant decrease when compared to the corresponding period in 2007AD where it was at 16% as stated in the article “Study: LimeWire demise slows music piracy”, published MARCH 23, 2011 5:47 AM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News. So their efforts are beginning to bear fruit!

This has now culminated in what is effectively a “six strikes you’re out” joint pact between Triple Play Provider Comcast, Triple Play Provider Time Warner, Telecom Provider AT&T and Telecom Provider Verizon in what is called the Copyright Alert System as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Copyright Alert System - Pirates on Stranger Tides experience Pain au chocolat”.

It is similar to the French Plan as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digital Video and Music Piracy – A Land grab for Taxes on the Internet” as well as my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Piracy - After the Fox and the French Connection”.

French and High Authority for Dissemination of Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi) send warnings to high volume downloaders of Copyright Infringing Intellectual Property effectively The French Connection (1971) to the action being taken by the Americans! 

The French plan is a bit more harsh, however, with the threat of blacklisting and permanent disconnection from the Internet on the third infraction and a fine as stated in the article “France launches warning to web pirates”, published Monday October 4, 12:13 pm ET, AFP, Yahoo! News.

Thus this uptick in Album sales may, really and truly, be nothing more that the Millennials [ages 18 to 28], who are addicted to the Internet and Social Networking, which is their main portal for sharing Copyright Infringing content, getting scared out of their wits at a future prospect of being blacklisted from accessing the Internet due to the crackdown which began earlier in 2010AD.

The young ‘uns, just as they have begun to adopt Analog Photography as stated in my blog article entitled “Analog Photography a hit with Millennials - Digital Cameras in Katy Perry's Teenage Dream”, may also be returning to the physical formats for distributing Digital Video and Music content for the reasons as stated in my blog article entitled “Netflix & the Death of Blu-Ray - Rise of the Machines meets Chicken Run”.

This seeing as their free and organized means of downloading, such as Napster and Limewire have been taken down as stated in the article “What's driving rise in Music sales?”, published JULY 10, 2011 4:00 AM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News.

After all, the Physical discs, albeit old fashioned stuff, like Analog Photography, has better quality in terms of presentation and Audio Quality. The Baby Boomers lament breaks into praise “The young ‘uns do have good taste in Music quality after all!!”; a truism, as MP3’s with a sampling rate of 128kbps don’t sound all that great on your Stereo system with its five (5) high end speakers, subwoofers and tweeters.

The comment of NPD Senior analyst Ross Crupnick explains this phenomenon: “The cataclysmic drop in CD buyers may have stopped. Between the years 2006 to 2009, the number of CD buyers dropped by around 20 million. We talk about young people and the lost generation but some of these younger Music buyers are telling us ‘I want that thing I can hold, the liner notes and Album cover and the other ancillary materials that come with physical products’.”

Finally, after being scared by the U.S. Government crackdown and suddenly developing a love for physical formats, the MPP (Magical Pricing Point) of US$9.99 that Apple iTunes made standard on all its Albums has begun to work its “magic” on young people, who by the way are willing to spend online once the price is right.

This as a December 2010AD Pew Study hailing out of Harvard in the article “Study: So people do pay for online content”, published December 30, 2010 7:43 AM PST by Lance Whitney, Digital Media - CNET News suggested that people are wiling to make online purchases.

A baseline of one thousand (1000) people conducted from October 28^th 2010 to November 1^st 2010, it revealed that of the seven hundred and fifty (750) Internet users, 65% of them spent online, with about 43% averaging US$10 per purchase.

Put simply, price Music Albums below US$10 and introduce a “taste and buy” model or Freemium model as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Spotify and Freemium in the cloud - Shake, Rattle and Roll love for Internationals”, the reason behind Spotify success in the Music Industry over the past two (2) years, and Music Album sales in both Digital and Physical disc formats would start moving again and continue this 1% of CNET News Editor Greg Sandoval’s Firestarter (1984) of Album sales among Millennials.

Marmaduke from Hastings Entertainment puts it best, quote: “When you're competing with rampant piracy, the best way to combat it is to lower prices”. Something that cash strapped Millennials in college can certainly agree on – pay up or be banned from the Internet for life!!

A follow-up article on this trend tracking this phenomenon as it spontaneously bursts into flames Firestarter (1984) Style will be coming in a later Geezam Blog article. Stay tuned….