Violation of copyright: the way toward a more repressive legislation

The flow of commonly named “pirate” products over markets would hint the total lack of laws protecting copyrights in Madagascar. Neither September 18th 1995’s law n° 94 – 036 on the literary and artistic property nor June 16th 1998’s decree n° 98 – 434 drafting the Malagasy Royalties Office’s statute (OMDA locally) succeeded in preventing the criminal outbreak. The law and particularly its penal sanctions are simply not deterring enough: individuals guilty of forgery to commercial ends are condemned either to pay fines or to undergo prison sentences. But still many voice are rising to call upon severity on fine amounts and prison sentences’ durations.  

Artists are not exclusively disappointed by penal sanctions inflicted by the law. Any plaintiff would find it hard to expect the recovery of suitable damages in repay of his financial losses. “The best that can be expected, if ever, is having pirates ending the smuggle of copies of our CDs”, regreted a singer. “We hardly ever dare the making of an album nowadays. When videoclips are broadcasted on TV, these thefts are going as far as producing a VCD by compiling seven or eight songs instead of us”. The most common capitalization of the law remains the searches conducted in suspects’ facilities. They generally lead to the seizure of commodities, CDs and DVDs, as well as hardware used to produce forged copies.  

Malagasy cinema industry has, as a matter of fact, been a victim of pirates for having put its money on CD sells at the expenses of dark halls releases. “Piracy is a fiercy enemy of us making a living from cinema”, complained the actress and director Volatiana. “Products are forged immediately after their release. Sometimes, forgers even do it during the post-production phase. Artists are compelled to sell at low price to challenge forgers. The original VCDs cost 4 000 ariary whereas a poor quality copy is sold for 2 000 ariary. The difference between both products is a matter of perenity. The artistic production is a perishable consumption product which pushes customers to the purchase of a VCD to be used up after 20 burnings.  

As a remake of the struggle against the precious wood smuggle, the government is planning to oppose a joint ministerial task force to copyright violations. This squad is going to tackle the enhancement of the law. The latest legal artifact is the decree N° 12226 – 2006 which already reinforced sanctions against literary and artistic forgery.” A special unit in charge of fighting forgery is meant to be attached to the National Police and to the National State police. Police, customs, trade and OMDA officers must conduct observations of infringements, and seize pirate products even without waiting for plaintiffs to complain”. Inducing alterations to a law necessarily requires realistic ways to capitalize them.