Law
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Browsing Law by Author "Iyer, Desan"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- ItemBroadcast copyright and regulatory framework for free access to live football broadcasts in Kenya and South Africa(2018-11) Oira, Hezekiel; Ndlovu, Lonias; Iyer, DesanThis study investigates the impact of broadcast copyright on access to the broadcasting of football in Kenya and South Africa. Broadcasting is the most important and popular platform over which football matches are distributed globally. Modern broadcasting and telecommunication technologies have created multimedia channels and platforms over which football events are exploited. The exploitation of these sporting events places greater reliance upon copyright and other intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights in general and copyright in particular monopolises and individualises that which they protect. When football events are broadcast in Kenya and South Africa, they are assimilated into broadcasts which form one of the categories that are copyright protected in the two jurisdictions. At the same time when football games are recorded before transmission, they are protected as audio-visual works within the meaning of the copyright laws of South Africa and Kenya. The exclusive rights that broadcasting organisations enjoy in Kenya and South Africa create a monopoly over the broadcast football matches. Access to these events, therefore, on the part of the public becomes discretional at the whims of the broadcaster transmitting events. On the other hand, the study found out that football is a popular culture not only in Kenya and South Africa but also across the world. Football is an expression of the people‘s culture and therefore glue that binds people together. It is viewed as a cultural heritage that promotes collective consciousness of a people. It promotes national cohesion and nationhood and thus important for countries like Kenya and South Africa where ethnicity and racial divisions are so pronounced. This calls for stronger legal and policy frameworks towards greater public access to broadcast football. This necessity is also justified by the fact that media transforms football events into stories through commentaries and analysis. The football events therefore become informational assets that have greater constitutional underpinnings within the context of the right to information. The public therefore has a constitutional claim to broadcast football as sports information as well as under the relevant international instruments like the International Convention on the Right of the Child of 1989 and the International Charter on Physical Education and Sport. ix The major findings of the study are that live broadcasting of football events is copyright protected in Kenya and South. This copyright protection though is not backed up by copyright doctrines and philosophies because transmission of football events is not a creation of the mind. Additionally, the exclusive rights that broadcasters enjoy over their broadcasts are buttressed by technological protection measures employed by pay TV services which encase absolutely football events. This situation has been exacerbated by the migration of premium football events from free-to-air (FTA) channels to subscription services which further limits access to broadcast football events that are encrypted. Based on the foregoing findings, the study makes appropriate recommendations that would bring Kenya and South Africa to a level consistent with the global development. The global development is constructed from the practices and comparative analysis done vis-à-vis developed countries with strong traditions of sports and intellectual property rights.
- ItemThe semiotics of non-verbal communication in the attorney, client consultation process(University of Zululand, 2011) Iyer, Desan; van den Bergh, N.J.C.In 2010, the Law Society of South Africa, expressed concern over the number of law graduates that were lacking in essential skills and they stressed that clients in legal matters are placed at risk if new practitioners are not properly equipped to assist them.1 Many lamented the academic nature of the LLB programmes at most tertiary institutions as concentrating only on the “knowledge of the law” rather than the enhancement of important skills and abilities. The “radical dichotomy” that exists between theory and practice in the law curricula at most tertiary law schools is at the root of the problem Whilst there is no denying that the ubiquity of doctrinal development is central to legal studies, law is no longer seen as a “technique of professional practice” only. Legal Realism has highlighted the fact that law permeates all facets of life and should therefore be studied as an embodiment of knowledge that permeates the “real” world. The focus of my study is on one key area of communication that has been largely ignored thus far in the legal arena, i.e. non-verbal communication. Effective communication is a fundamental dexterity to the attorney and a lack thereof can result in the likelihood of psychological and emotional long-term difficulties. My study furnishes some insight into the challenges facing most attorneys during the consultation process. The study outlines the importance and ubiquity of the different sign systems (semiotics) that regulate human interaction. The growing body of knowledge about non-verbal communication has illustrated that it is the main sign system that parallels verbal communication in the human interactive process. The aim of this study was to establish the attorneys’ perceptions of implementing non-verbal communication into their daily lives and the legal system in South Africa. A qualitative approach (where attorneys were interviewed) broadened my understanding of the attorneys’ experiences and I was allowed to be privy to their personal interpretations and perspectives on non-verbal communication in the legal arena. By recording and documenting their experiences, valuable insight was gained into their emotional and psychological responses to their legal experiences. The analysis of their experiences yielded unique and distinct themes to emerge, which was then formulated into a theoretical experience The attorneys were unanimous in their call for training in non-verbal communication. It was anticipated that this would serve as a means of alleviating some of the challenges facing them during the consultation process. Successful implementation would require attorneys to have a positive, flexible and creative approach to using non-verbal skills in consultations with clients. The study finds that legal realism combined with a semiotics methodology offers the law student an apposite approach to researching and analysing systems of meaning within the communicative legal framework. A framework that integrates realism, semiotics and non-verbal communication contains all the ingredients needed to improve the communicative legal skills of the attorney. The amalgamation of non-verbal communication skills with traditional legal skills would go a long way in removing the deep-seated dichotomy that still exists between theory and practice in the LLB curricula.