laws of England (supra) after 1 August 1989 in paragraph 117, the author of the works is taken to
be the person who created the work according to case law. Secondly sound recordings were
defined as:
"records, perforated rolls, and other contrivances by means of which sound would be
mechanically reproduced and work protected as if they were musical works and the
person who was the owner of the original plate from which the contrivance was directly
or indirectly derived at the time when the plate was made was deemed to be the author".
In paragraph 118 it is written that prior to 1912, the meaning of the word "author" was derived
from case law.
No further guidelines are given by the definition under section 2 of the Ugandan Copyright and
Neighbouring Rights Act, 2006 of the expression "author". However there is a hint given by the
definition of the expression "sound recording" as the aural fixation of sound in a material carrier
such as a tape, disc or other similar material. Taking the definition of the word "author" as well
as the meaning of the expression „sound recording‟, the two definitions give a guideline as to
who the author of the sound recording is. From the definition of the expression "author", it is the
person who created or creates work protected under section 5 and includes a person or authority
commissioning work or employing a person making work in the course of employment. Is it the
case that the Third Party employed persons to do the recording of the Plaintiff's voice and
therefore is the creator of the works? Secondly the work was by fixation. The expression
"fixation" is also defined under section 2 of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, to mean
inter alia the embodiment of sound in a:
"material form sufficiently stable or permanent, to permit them to be perceived,
reproduced or otherwise communicated through a device during a period of more than
transitory duration."
This definition taken together with the meaning of "sound recording", clearly means the fixation
of the sound in the material carrier such as the tape, disc or other similar material. The act of
fixation or the manipulation of that fixation was done by the third-party employees who for
purposes of claiming authorship of the recording make the third-party the creator of the works.
Detailed discussion of the expression "authorship" can be found in the textbook by David
Bainbridge on Intellectual Property Sixth Edition between pages 78 and 83. He makes the
important distinction that the author of the work has moral rights while the owner of the works
has economic rights. These two rights may be merged in one person but that is not always
necessarily the case. Sometimes the author of the work will also be the owner of the copyright in
the work. Ownership flows from authorship which means the person who makes the work who is
normally the first owner of the copyright in the work provided he did not create the work in the
course of employment. Furthermore the author notes that the expression "author" of the work is
Decision of Hon. Mr. Justice Christopher Madrama
Izama *^*~?+:
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