You wait ages for a reported judgment concerning “needletime” royalties pursuant to section 9A of the Copyright Act, and then two come along at approximately the same time.  There were two reported decisions, one, an enquiry by the Copyright Tribunal, and, the other, a judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal following an appeal from the Copyright Tribunal.  Needletime royalties are the amounts charged for copyright licences for the playing of sound recordings which are audible to the members of the public.  Besides the courts’ consideration of the methods used for calculating the royalties in the respective matters, issues concerning the procedure to be followed by the South African Music Performance Rights Association (“SAMPRA”), and the Copyright Tribunal, in determining the needletime royalties were also clarified.  Furthermore, there were also findings concerning the powers of SAMPRA and the Copyright Tribunal.

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Written by Prof Sadulla Karjiker
Associate Professor, Department of Mercantile Law
Member of the Anton Mostert Chair of Intellectual Property Law
Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University