Copyright for plays

CONTRARY to the popular belief among people in the theatre fraternity that there is no organisation set up to register local plays, the Intellectual Property Services says it is one such body.

All producers acknowledge the need to copyright their plays but some say they are not aware of a body which has been set up to protect their work.

"As far as I know as long as you have created the work you have copyright over it. I doubt that people know about the body that has been set up to protect us. Maybe it's because they don't advertise very often," explained Nadine Hamilton, who has done plays such as Ghetto Justice.

The work of playwrights, authors and performers can be protected through the Intellectual Property Services Centre and its splinter organisations such as the Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY), and the Jamaican Performers Association (JAMPERF).

"The Jamaican copyright covers every type of work. From the moment the work is done, they are protected. But Jamaicans are yet to catch up with the turnaround in their favour because of the law," explained Tony Laing, General Manager of Intellectual Property Service Centre.

The industry players are all aware that copyright is important since it's an investment that can pay off in the long run.

"Life is a funny thing. Anything can happen at any time, so it is suitable to copyright your works," said Ginger Knight, one player who has copyrighted his works. He has written several plays including Room For Rent.

If plays are not copyrighted then the producers leave themselves open to the possibility of losing money. Loss of funds could occur when other parties make changes to their work and pass it off as their own, leaving the creator to count his losses or hope that someone remembers that he had written a play of that nature.

Producers also risk having their reputation suffer if a someone steals his work, changes and copyrights it and then accuses the original producer of breaching their copyright causing them to lose face in the industry.

Most of the producers have used the 'poor man's method of copyright' in the past. This is where the producer mails a registered copy of his work to himself. They did this because they were not aware of any body set up to protect their work.

Instead of using the 'poor man's copyright,' other writers such as Paul Beale have registered their work with a copyright body in London, England.

Producer Garfield Reid, who is also known for his part as 'Bad Boy Trevor' in the play Fire Inna Yu Wire, says he is one of the many using the 'poor man's method'.

For the time being, most playrights continue to use this method which, Laing says, can be good in that it does leave a trail of evidence.

"There is no basis in law for that but it does leave a trail of evidence to protect the author. However, if the envelope is opened it will be considered a breach of copyright since the envelope must be sealed," he added.

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