Mayors on music piracy

Allison Demas, Chief Executive Officer of the Copyright Music Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) has for the past month been issuing letters to the country’s mayors in an effort to get their assistance in adopting a pro-active approach to deal with music piracy in their cities/boroughs.

But in reaction to the letters, Mayor of San Fernando, Ian Atherly, the most vocal of the Mayors yesterday knocked both COTT and the other copyright organisation handling the affairs of local artistes in the country, the Trinidad and Tobago Copyright Organisation (TTCO) headed by Vijay Ramlal, on the issue, blaming both bodies for the ongoing high levels of piracy in his City.

Atherly said yesterday that mayors have been doing their part as much as they could but his feeling was that the municipal police were frustrated when bringing vendors to court. He then spoke of an instant when a “pirate” was taken to court but the case had to be dropped when no COTT official turned up for the hearing to verify the seized products.

While Demas admitted to that instant she explained that an official had turned up on the five other occasions that the case was called and adjourned, and when it was called for a sixth time the official had to be in Tobago on other COTT business.

Atherly also spoke of another instant when his police went to arrest another pirate, the latter produced a document from the TTCO that give him unconditional approval to sell on the street. Ramlal couldn’t be reached for comment on that matter.

Further Atherly told Newsday about a process whereby when material is seized from pirates COTT requests that it be brought to its Port-of-Spain head office for examination. He said his Corporation doesn’t have the systems and manpower to take such exhibits to POS because they are short staffed but Demas said that COTT could work around that situation for the job to get done.

However Atherly is bent on wanting vendors to know that they are coming after them hence the reason for a meeting which was set up for today where all the stakeholders can have an input on the matter.

As regards Port-of-Spain Mayor Murchison Brown, his feeling is that the necessary police action ought to be sustained but it is not because of the officers’ workload. However his position is that the two copyright organisations have to get their act together to effectively combat piracy.

The situation in Chaguanas is slightly different in that Mayor Suruj Rambachan initiated police action there and as much as a dozen cases have been dealt with in court resulting in the perpetrators being fined. But that is not enough for him, an artiste himself.

Yesterday he lamented that there was nothing more that could be done because the whole process is skewed. He said he felt that the law is set out and the police ought to be the ones to enforce it.

Point Fortin Mayor Sinclair Natta expressed his appreciation for the work that COTT was doing but said that his borough doesn’t have the resources to tackle music piracy. And even so, he boasted that they don’t really have a problem with that in his City except during the Borough Day celebrations which normally come off the first weekend in May.

Natta promised to identify any pirates in his area but he too shared the view that the main thrust in battling the problem must come from the police.