Cameroon

Mon, 11/01/2010 - 15:26 — Dieunedort WANDJI

Legal background

Copyright legislation	Law No. 2000/011 of December 19, 2000 on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights ("CM001") From http://www.wipo.int/clea/fr/details.jsp?id=836
Other relevant laws
Copyright treaties	Berne Convention	Rome Convention	Berne Appendix	TRIPS	WCT	WPPT
Other relevant treaties

Scope and duration of copyright

Is the period of protection of each type of copyright work limited to the minimum duration mandated by the Berne Convention?	YES Cameroon complies by all Berne convention provisions as regards duration.
Must a work be fixed in some material form before copyright attaches?	YES Ideas cannnot be protected under Cameroon's copyright law.	CM001 s.3
Is the exercise of copyright subject to competition law, for example by compulsory licensing or regulation of royalties in the case of copyright holders who misuse their monopoly power?	YES
Is the exercise of copyright subject to compliance with a bill of rights or similar human rights instrument, for example by preventing copyright from being used to stifle protected speech?	NO
Does the compilation of a database of non-original material fall outside the scope of copyright?	NO	CM001 s.4b
Do exceptions and limitations in national copyright law prevail over contracts purporting to limit or override them?	YES The role is a rescourse for the parties under contract, and should therefore prevail over any type of contracts.

Freedoms to access and use

By Home Users	Is there a general exception for the fair use of copyright material for any purpose that satisfies a set of balancing criteria?	NO The law was made from the standpoint of the copyright holder, and not from the users of the copyrighted material.
	Is time, space and format shifting allowed (such as ripping music from CD to an MP3 player)?	NO You need written authorisation from the author.
	Can consumers reproduce copyright material for their own use in the original format, for example for backup purposes?	YES
	Can works be communicated to a limited public (for example, family and friends) without infringing copyright?	NO The following shall constitute forgery...any reproduction, communication or supply to the public through sale, exchange, rental of a recording, a phonogram, videogram, undertaken without the authorization of the performer, phonogram or videogram producer, or the audiovisual communication firm, where such authorization is required.	CM001 s.80
	Does a collective licensing scheme permit the copying or sharing of copyright material by consumers in exchange for a media or equipment levy?	YES Though such a collective licensing scheme is only virtually derived from legal provisions.	CM001 ss.69 -70
For Education	Is reproduction permitted for the purposes of research or study?	NO
	Does any such research and study provision cover distance and online education?	NO
	May translations of works be made for educational purposes?	YES
	May works be reproduced and published by educational institutions in connection with systematic instructional activities?	YES
Online	Is hyperlinking to a Web site allowed without permission of the site's owner?	NO
	Are temporary or transient copies, incidental to a lawful use, excepted from copyright?	LIMITED
	Are ISPs protected from liability for infringements by third parties, because the law either does not impose liability upon intermediaries or limits their liability in certain circumstances?	YES
	Do ISPs provide Internet access without conducting filtering or monitoring for potential copyright-infringing material?	YES Though they may have to respond to court at times.
	Are the names and personal information of customers who are alleged to have engaged in copyright-infringing behaviour protected from disclosure by their ISPs?	LIMITED
By content creators	Can copyright works be non-commercially remixed or mashed up into new works?	YES
	May computer software be reverse engineered for the purpose of creating interoperable software?	NO
	Is the incidental inclusion of a work in other material permitted?	YES
	Is there are copyright exception for parody or satire?	LIMITED
	Do creators who license their work retain the moral right of attribution?	YES
By the press	Is there a copyright exception for the news of the day?	LIMITED This explicitly only applies to speeches at political and public gatherings.	CM001 s.67
	May copyright material be reproduced for the purposes of review and criticism?	LIMITED
	May political speeches, speeches in judicial proceedings and/or other public speeches be used for any purpose?	NO Mostly journalists have faced lawsuit for using political speeches, speeches in judicial proceedings and/or other public speeches for improper purposes.
	May quotations be used for any purpose?	NO
By Libraries	May libraries copy works that cannot reasonably be obtained commercially?	NO There is no express provision on library use.
	May libraries copy works for users for the purpose of research or study?	NO There is no express provision on library use.
	Are libraries allowed to make preservation or archive copies of materials in their collections?	NO There is no express provision on library use.
	In making permitted copies, are libraries entitled to circumvent technological protection mechanisms (TPMs)?	LIMITED
By disabled users	Is it permissible to copy or adapt work for the use of those with disabilities?	LIMITED It is actually done, but no provision clearly permits it.
In public affairs	Are laws excluded from copyright?	YES
	Are other governmental works excluded from copyright?	YES Court judgements and “other official instruments as well as their official translations”.
	Is there a copyright exception for use of material in judicial proceedings?	LIMITED
	Are the results of publicly funded research required to be published under an open access license?	NO

Freedoms to share and transfer

Administration and enforcement

What is the maximum penalty for copyright infringement for an individual?	$46.000	CM001 s.82 (1)
What is the maximum penalty for copyright infringement for a corporation?	$46.000	CM001 ss.82 (1) and (2)
Do the penalties for copyright infringement distinguish between personal versus (large-scale) commercial use, other than at the discretion of a judge?	NO This is not specified in the law.	CM001 s.82
Is the creation or distribution of devices that can circumvent technological protection measures (TPM) permitted, where such devices can be used for purposes that would not infringe copyright?	NO
Is the use of such devices by consumers permitted for any purpose that would not infringe copyright?	LIMITED This only limits the "fraudulent" circumvention of such measures, which might not impede their circumvention for purposes the law allows.	CM001 s.81
Does national copyright or consumer protection law require disclosure to consumers of the existence of TPMs and any potential limitations on the use of TPM-protected material?	NO
Are the operations of copyright collectives subject to public oversight?	YES But only artists belonging to the copyright collective are entitled to ask questions.
Are ISPs independent of copyright owners, to the extent that no law or industry code of conduct requires them to notify their users who are alleged to have committed a copyright infringement online?	YES But, they are often called to court over such infringements.
Are criminal sanctions limited to cases of large-scale commercial counterfeiting?	NO There have been many cases of individuals sent to jail and/or fined
Are damages for copyright infringement based on the loss sustained, rather than by a pre-established or statutory damages award?	NO
Is there provision to penalise the wrongful allegation of copyright infringement?	YES

Conclusions

The copyrightⁱ law of Cameroon is unsatisfactory. There are insufficient specific exceptions, and an over-reliance on the general exception for private copying, which is remunerated by a levy. Although this may often be a good enough substitute for a research and study exception, it is no substitute for institutional exceptions for libraries and disability support organisations.

On the other hand, Cameroon has been very swift to legislate against the circumvention of technological protection mechanisms. This, and the general tenor of the law, indicates that too much influence has been had on its drafting from industry lobbyists, with insufficient attention being paid to the needs of consumers.

One of the few brighter notes in the Cameroon legislation is a specific provision dealing with folklore, which can be reproduced for free for private purposes. For profit-making purposes, a royalty must be paid into a cultural fund.

This work is licensed under a Attribution Share Alike Creative Commons license

May copyright works be freely offered for commercial rental?	NO
Does the law permit a work to be released to the public domain before the copyright term expires, without any formality other than an overt act of relinquishment?	NO
Are orphaned works treated differently in the law to other copyright works, for example by allowing them to be compulsorily licenced, limiting remedies, or by releasing them into the public domain?	NO
Is parallel importation permitted?	LIMITED
Are there incentives for the use, production and dissemination of free and open source software within copyright law or elsewhere in national law/policy?	NO Cameroon's law is still very backward as concerns Information and Communications New Technologies.
Are there incentives for the use, production and dissemination of open access material (e.g. textbooks) within copyright law or elsewhere in national law / policy?	YES There exist a special fund for that in the Ministry of Culture, though beneficiaries are always complaining on allocation criteria.
Are there specifications or incentives in national law/policy for the use of open document formats?	NO