By Edwin Mauluka

Some of the participants at the symposium

The MultiChoice Malawi has propped up its antipiracy campaign through initiative called Partners Against Piracy (PAP) which seeks to help fight piracy which currently presents a threat to the sustainability of the creative industry including broadcasting industry within Malawi.

On Friday night the company hosted a PAP symposium in the capital city, Lilongwe, which attracted various stakeholder to discuss ways to fight piracy and popularize awareness of domestic laws that criminalize the practice.

Emma Gichonge, Managing Director of MultiChoice Malawi emphasized that piracy  remains a serious crime that has a negative effect on economy hence engaging key industry stakeholders to collectively clamp down on content piracy and create awareness against content theft.

“Piracy harms investor confidence and tax revenue, and may also affect trade opportunities if Malawi is seen as a country where intellectual property is not respected and protected.” She said

Gichonge then shared that PAP intends to educate the mass by communicating the repercussions of piracy and the effect it has on businesses, creatives and the economy; also create awareness by appealing to media and creatives to amplify the effects of piracy, as well as, driving sensitization and awareness of the impact of piracy on Africa’s creative industries and growth potential overall.

PAP was officially launched in Malawi in 2021 as part of a greater pan-African campaign in order to drive conversations and awareness on the effects of global piracy which at present costs the global entertainment industry up to $71 billion every year.

Gichonge–MultiChoice has thrown its weight behind PAP to provide an African context for this growing global issue

It is estimated that this industry loss is more than the annual GDP of Mozambique, Uganda and Guinea combined – representing the impact on the US entertainment sector alone.

“No country looking to build a creative industry can afford to lose this income. For this reason, MultiChoice has thrown its weight behind PAP to provide an African context for this growing global issue.” Added Gichonge

Presenting on the role of Media in Promoting Access to information and free speech Deputy Chairperson for Parliamentary Committee on Media and Information Communication Thoko Tembo, encouraged Malawians to take responsibility in fighting piracy to ensure that local creatives earn a living from their talent.

“Piracy is harmful to the creative industry since the owners of the work do not benefit from the exploitation” he said

Tembo then reminded the stakeholders that all acts of piracy is a direct infringement of section 88 (1) of the Copyright Act in respect of any work protected under the Act where, ‘without valid transfer, licence or authorization under this Act, the person does, permits or causes another person to__ (a) reproduce, fix, duplicate, extract or imitate such work or permit or cause it to be reproduced, fixed, duplicated, extracted, or imitated’

He further reminded the media, one of the consumers of creative works, to always adhere to copyright laws if the creative industry is to be sustainable.

“The Media must first show responsible consumption of content. Secondly the Media has the capacity to shape debate and get people to ask the right questions.” Added Hon. Tembo

Film Association of Malawi President Gift Sukali

He also appealed to the Copyright Society of Malawi (CoSoMa) to help promote the enforcement of Copyright law and the understanding of the same by the general public and the artists themselves.

“Currently artists are lobbying for the swift enactment of the National Arts and Heritage Council which will help fund and promote the arts and also fight for the rights of artists. It is therefore my appeal that PAP should add its voice on the need for such a council. It should be noted that Malawi is one of the few countries in Southern Africa, if not the only one, which has no Arts Council. This means the sector is deprived of its development and everyone’s help is needed to make sure that Nahec is enacted as this will revamp and contribute significant income to the country’s GDP.” Added Hon. Tembo

On his part, Thomas Chirambo, Licensing Officer at CoSoMa stressed that piracy fight is a responsibility of every Malawian. He said the only way to end the vice is by avoiding buying any pirated content.

Speaking on the importance of telling local stories, Film Association of Malawi President, Gift Sukali emphasized that artists have responsibility of telling own stories as doing so, will help popularize Malawian stories to the world in a way that can never be told by non-Malawian producers.

He said this has great potential of generating economic benefits to local content producers.

Sukali said production of any creative content especially films demands huge investment of resources and effort hence the need to avoid stealing creative works.

The event brought together various stakeholders in broadcast industry, content creators such as filmmakers, enforcement agencies such as Copyright Society of Malawi (CoSoMa), law makers among others.

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