Legal
Court papers, legal opinions and formal submissions filed by ReCreate South Africa in the campaign for copyright reform. Full documents are published here in an accessible, readable format and as downloadable PDFs.
Letter to President Ramaphosa: Pass the Bills Into Law
An open letter from ReCreate to President Cyril Ramaphosa urging that the long-awaited Copyright Amendment Bill and Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill be passed into law without further delay, setting out what the…
WIPO: Report on the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, July 2024
ReCreate’s notes from the report-back on the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights at the 2024 Assemblies — which member states spoke, the additional sessions on generative AI and on…
WIPO: Information Session on Generative AI and Copyright (SCCR/45/5)
The Secretariat’s proposed outline for the WIPO information session on generative artificial intelligence and copyright, held during the 45th session of the Standing Committee in Geneva. It sets out the objectives, format…
Third Joint Academic Opinion on the Copyright Amendment Bill
A third joint opinion by copyright scholars, this time on the further-amended Bill [B13D–2017] as it went to the National Council of Provinces. It reviews the changes Parliament made in response to…
Presentation to the Provincial Legislature Public Hearings, 2023
The presentation given at the 2023 provincial legislature public hearings on the Copyright Amendment Bill, walking through why the 1978 Copyright Act is out of date, what the Bill changes, and what…
Provincial Call for Written Submissions on the Bills, 2023
The Northern Cape Provincial Legislature’s invitation to writers, producers, musicians, photographers, broadcasters, unions and others to make written submissions on the Copyright Amendment Bill and the Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill, as part…
First and Second Joint Academic Opinions on the Copyright Amendment Bill
Nine South African and international copyright scholars set out a joint academic assessment of the Copyright Amendment Bill [B13B–2017] and the President’s reservations about it. The opinions address the Bill’s constitutionality, its…
Blind SA v Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition — Constitutional Court Judgment
The Constitutional Court’s judgment in Blind SA’s challenge to the Copyright Act, holding that the Act unjustifiably limits the rights of people with visual and print disabilities and is unconstitutional to the…
Legal Opinion 4: On the New Proposed Amendments
After Parliament reconsidered the Bill, a further round of amendments was proposed. ReCreate SA sought an opinion on whether these new proposals addressed the President’s reservations, and whether they weakened the reforms…
BlindSA and SECTION27 Submission on the December 2021 Amendments
A detailed submission on the amendments published on 8 December 2021, focused on accessible format shifting and the rights of people with visual and print disabilities. It analyses the proposed definition of…