Category: copyright

T&T Copyright Culture Or Lack Thereof

October 19, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

If you walk into any store, rum shop or office that has a radio playing, it seems you'll find a sticker that says that the Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) was there. They charge these businesses money for allowing their customers a break from the monotony of the other sounds of their businessplace. And they are penalized in something that could well be described as double jeapordy - broadcasters already pay for a licence that permits them to broadcast; then COTT goes around and charges these businesses for the same thing. Information on their website about whether you need a licence or not can be found here. And for the record, all those funny characters are just bad web development.

Past responses from COTT about this criticism have been, "It's the Law." You can, and should, know about the Infringement aspects of the Copyright Act of Trinidad and Tobago (1997) - the relevant section is here. Technically speaking, if you can hear the music from the car ahead or behind you, it could be considered public broadcasting - which means that COTT should be charging anyone with subwoofers in their car some money. See? I'm not against COTT. I just found them a new revenue stream. {Read more}