GRAMMY WINNER JOINS CALL FOR MALI TO DEFEND IPR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 001417 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV ML SUBJECT: GRAMMY WINNER JOINS CALL FOR MALI TO DEFEND IPR 1.(U) Summary: Prominent Malian musicians, including Grammy winner Toumani Diabate, have joined politicians to attack the GOM's failure to protect intellectual property rights (IPR). On a November 30 session in the National Assembly, Minister of Culture Cheick Oumar Sissoko was grilled on government efforts - or the lack thereof - to prevent music piracy and prosecute IPR pirates. Sissoko identified IPR protections as priority number one when named Minister in 2002, but after five years there have been no major convictions and piracy apparently is on the rise. Sissoko blames security officials who do not take copyright infringements seriously and judges unwilling to impose fines or prison terms for IPR violations. For Malian musicians, the bureaucratic infighting is just the latest example of government unwillingness to crack down on the piracy industry. End Summary. -------------- What Have You Done Lately? -------------- 2.(U) On November 30 National Assembly Deputy Yacouba Bagayogo traded barbs with Minister of Culture Cheick Oumar Sissoko over the GOM's efforts to combat copyright infringement and music piracy. Reminding Sissoko that he had identified IPR protections as his number one issue and promised tangible results within six months of becoming Minister in 2002, Bagayogo asserted that Sissoko had abandoned Malian artists and Malian culture. "What have you really done," asked Bagayogo, "to prevent the pirating of works by our artists?" Malian artists, said Bagayogo, "are unhappy with the Ministry of Culture for having failed to better protect their works against piracy." Bagayogo accused the Ministry of wasting money on numerous cultural festivals throughout Mali instead of working to prevent piracy. 3.(U) Sissoko, who as a professional film-maker was victimized by copyright infringement, sought to shift the spotlight to the Ministries of Security and Justice and to the National Assembly. Piracy is a crime and the judiciary is responsible for law enforcement, said Sissoko, who added that the Ministry of Culture had no ability to influence how judges interpreted copyright law. He suggested that the National Assembly could "clean up" some of the laws regarding intellectual piracy. 4.(U) In a meeting with the Embassy at his National Assembly office on December 7, Bagayogo refused to let Sissoko off the hook. "Flagrant piracy in Mali is an affront to Malian culture," said Bagayogo. He complained that since a high-profile raid in June 2005 that yielded 90,000 pirated cassettes but no arrests, the GOM has done nothing to prevent the spread of pirated cassettes, CDs and DVDs. "Why no prosecutions?" he asked, "Why not show those caught on television like they do for other criminals?" When the police do arrest someone for piracy, he complained, judges release them almost immediately even though piracy is punishable by 1 to 5 years in prison. Bagayogo rejected Sissoko's recommendation to the National Assembly to refine copyright law. "New laws would be pointless because they wouldn't be applied," he said. "We need to implement the laws we already have." Asked why he compelled the Minister of Culture to testify before the Assembly on what appears in many respects to be a legal and security issue, Bagayogo said: "If the security forces aren't doing their job, the Minister of Culture needs to tell them to get to work." -------------- Existing Laws Not Enforced -------------- 5.(SBU) Despite their pointed exchange on the Assembly floor, Bagayogo and Sissoko seemed to agree that the police, customs agents and judges are not enforcing existing copyright laws, a view also shared by private IPR attorneys. One such lawyer who is handling 14 on-going IPR cases, commented that IPR law is too complex and judges do not fully understand it. Judges also have a wide range of flexibility when handing down sentences or fines. Since many judges regard copyright infringement crimes as "trivial," pirates are either released or given suspended sentences without jail time or fines. Officials at the Malian Copyright Office (Bureau Malien du Droit d'Auteur or BUMDA),which falls under the Ministry of Culture and represents roughly 1600 Malian artists, echoed these complaints as well. 6.(SBU) BUMDA officials complained that numerous training and informational programs for police and customs officials of IPR related issues had failed to fix coordination problems with security officials. BUMDA's primary role is to support Malian artists and ensure that they receive royalty payments from local and international media, but the Culture Minister Sissoko tasked the BUMDA with organizing at least 7 piracy BAMAKO 00001417 002 OF 002 raids or seizures per quarter. Last quarter, BUMDA officials claimed they conducted 12 raids, but characterized their efforts as minor, since they have only one vehicle to cover all of Mali, are not paid to work at night when most pirates operate, and coordination between the BUMDA and law enforcement is poor. BUMDA must file a request with the police to conduct a raid on music pirates; by the time the request is granted and the police are prepared to move, someone has invariably tipped off the pirating ring. -------------- The Piracy Lobby and Private Radio -------------- 7.(SBU) Complicating any attempt to crack down on IPR violations is the emergence of music pirates as an increasingly organized and formidable sector of the local economy. "I can understand why our politicians are doing nothing," said world-famous singer Salif Keita in October during a blistering critique of the GOM, "because those who are pirating music are also their constituents." 2006 Grammy winner (Best Traditional World Music Album) Toumani Diabate believes the Malian piracy industry is too organized and entrenched within the local economy to be affected by the GOM's half-hearted attempts to prevent music piracy, even though "Everyone knows who the pirates are." Diabate suggested that Malian artists should bypass the GOM altogether and negotiate some kind of revenue sharing agreement with the piracy industry directly. 8.(SBU) The economic and political strength of the local piracy industry frustrates officials at the BUMDA. The June 2005 raid that netted over 90,000 counterfeit cassettes but no arrests served as a rude awakening--for the BUMDA. Following the raid, a suspected pirate even filed suit in civil court seeking over CFA 500 million in damages (approximately USD 1 million or more than five times the BUMDA's annual budget allocation from the GOM). The case has noy yet gone to trial. Lawyers for BUMDA say claims by IPR violators that they are adding money and jobs to the local economy are not easily dismissed by politicians seeking to secure their electoral base. 9.(U) A separate dilemma for the BUMDA and Malian artists involves public and private radio. The BUMDA receives CFA 5 million (about USD 10,000) from the ORTM (Mali's national television and radio station) each year in return for the rights to play music and show videos, but ORTM pays no additional royalties. The ORTM maintains that this amount, which has not changed since the early 1980s, is sufficient because the ORTM is supporting artists by exposing their music and videos to a wider audience. The recording artists see it differently: "The ORTM," said Toumani Diabate, "uses my music for commercials for food and beauty products" but pays Diabate nothing in return. 10.(U) Private and local radio stations pose as large a problem: there are more than one hundred private radio stations in Mali thanks in large part to the GOM's aggressive decentralization program. BUMDA charges they not only refused pay for the rights to play music by Malian artists but were, in some cases, actively copying and distributing recordings. -------------- Comment: A Question of Priorities -------------- 11.(SBU) Bureaucratic squabbles between the Ministries of Culture, Justice and Security over the protection of IPR only obscure the greater issue for Malian musicians: continued losses in revenue due to copyright infringements. "In Mali," said Salif Keita in October, "we create police squads to combat cigarette smuggling but never think of fighting against music piracy. This upsets me because Malian music is suffering from this plague." For the BUMDA, the Minister of Culture and private sector IPR advocates, the finger points squarely at the security and justice officials to enforce already existing IPR laws. Unusual for the developing world, the international prominence of Malian musicians makes IPR a local issue. Pressure exerted by Diabete, Keita, and others is growing, and may yet force the GOM to take a stand. McCulley