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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 001417 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV ML
SUBJECT: GRAMMY WINNER JOINS CALL FOR MALI TO DEFEND IPR 
 
1.(U)  Summary:  Prominent Malian musicians, including Grammy 
winner Toumani Diabate, have joined politicians to attack the 
GOM's failure to protect intellectual property rights (IPR). 
On a November 30 session in the National Assembly, Minister 
of Culture Cheick Oumar Sissoko was grilled on government 
efforts - or the lack thereof - to prevent music piracy and 
prosecute IPR pirates.  Sissoko identified IPR protections as 
priority number one when named Minister in 2002, but after 
five years there have been no major convictions and piracy 
apparently is on the rise.  Sissoko blames security officials 
who do not take copyright infringements seriously and judges 
unwilling to impose fines or prison terms for IPR violations. 
 For Malian musicians, the bureaucratic infighting is just 
the latest example of government unwillingness to crack down 
on the piracy industry.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------- 
What Have You Done Lately? 
-------------------------- 
 
2.(U)  On November 30 National Assembly Deputy Yacouba 
Bagayogo traded barbs with Minister of Culture Cheick Oumar 
Sissoko over the GOM's efforts to combat copyright 
infringement and music piracy.  Reminding Sissoko that he had 
identified IPR protections as his number one issue and 
promised tangible results within six months of becoming 
Minister in 2002, Bagayogo asserted that Sissoko had 
abandoned Malian artists and Malian culture.  "What have you 
really done," asked Bagayogo, "to prevent the pirating of 
works by our artists?"  Malian artists, said Bagayogo, "are 
unhappy with the Ministry of Culture for having failed to 
better protect their works against piracy."  Bagayogo accused 
the Ministry of wasting money on numerous cultural festivals 
throughout Mali instead of working to prevent piracy. 
 
3.(U)  Sissoko, who as a professional film-maker was 
victimized by copyright infringement, sought to shift the 
spotlight to the Ministries of Security and Justice and to 
the National Assembly.  Piracy is a crime and the judiciary 
is responsible for law enforcement, said Sissoko, who added 
that the Ministry of Culture had no ability to influence how 
judges interpreted copyright law.  He suggested that the 
National Assembly could "clean up" some of the laws regarding 
intellectual piracy. 
 
4.(U)  In a meeting with the Embassy at his National Assembly 
office on December 7, Bagayogo refused to let Sissoko off the 
hook.  "Flagrant piracy in Mali is an affront to Malian 
culture," said Bagayogo.  He complained that since a 
high-profile raid in June 2005 that yielded 90,000 pirated 
cassettes but no arrests, the GOM has done nothing to prevent 
the spread of pirated cassettes, CDs and DVDs. "Why no 
prosecutions?" he asked, "Why not show those caught on 
television like they do for other criminals?"  When the 
police do arrest someone for piracy, he complained, judges 
release them almost immediately even though piracy is 
punishable by 1 to 5 years in prison.  Bagayogo rejected 
Sissoko's recommendation to the National Assembly to refine 
copyright law.  "New laws would be pointless because they 
wouldn't be applied," he said.  "We need to implement the 
laws we already have."  Asked why he compelled the Minister 
of Culture to testify before the Assembly on what appears in 
many respects to be a legal and security issue, Bagayogo 
said: "If the security forces aren't doing their job, the 
Minister of Culture needs to tell them to get to work." 
 
-------------------------- 
Existing Laws Not Enforced 
-------------------------- 
 
5.(SBU)  Despite their pointed exchange on the Assembly 
floor, Bagayogo and Sissoko seemed to agree that the police, 
customs agents and judges are not enforcing existing 
copyright laws, a view also shared by private IPR attorneys. 
One such lawyer who is handling 14 on-going IPR cases, 
commented that IPR law is too complex and judges do not fully 
understand it.  Judges also have a wide range of flexibility 
when handing down sentences or fines.  Since many judges 
regard copyright infringement crimes as "trivial," pirates 
are either released or given suspended sentences without jail 
time or fines.  Officials at the Malian Copyright Office 
(Bureau Malien du Droit d'Auteur or BUMDA), which falls under 
the Ministry of Culture and represents roughly 1600 Malian 
artists, echoed these complaints as well. 
 
6.(SBU)  BUMDA officials complained that numerous training 
and informational programs for police and customs officials 
of IPR related issues had failed to fix coordination problems 
with security officials.  BUMDA's primary role is to support 
Malian artists and ensure that they receive royalty payments 
from local and international media, but the Culture Minister 
Sissoko tasked the BUMDA with organizing at least 7 piracy 
 
BAMAKO 00001417  002 OF 002 
 
 
raids or seizures per quarter.  Last quarter, BUMDA officials 
claimed they conducted 12 raids, but characterized their 
efforts as minor, since they have only one vehicle to cover 
all of Mali, are not paid to work at night when most pirates 
operate, and coordination between the BUMDA and law 
enforcement is poor.  BUMDA must file a request with the 
police to conduct a raid on music pirates; by the time the 
request is granted and the police are prepared to move, 
someone has invariably tipped off the pirating ring. 
 
---------------------------------- 
The Piracy Lobby and Private Radio 
---------------------------------- 
 
7.(SBU)  Complicating any attempt to crack down on IPR 
violations is the emergence of music pirates as an 
increasingly organized and formidable sector of the local 
economy.  "I can understand why our politicians are doing 
nothing," said world-famous singer Salif Keita in October 
during a blistering critique of the GOM, "because those who 
are pirating music are also their constituents."  2006 Grammy 
winner (Best Traditional World Music Album) Toumani Diabate 
believes the Malian piracy industry is too organized and 
entrenched within the local economy to be affected by the 
GOM's half-hearted attempts to prevent music piracy, even 
though "Everyone knows who the pirates are."  Diabate 
suggested that Malian artists should bypass the GOM 
altogether and negotiate some kind of revenue sharing 
agreement with the piracy industry directly. 
 
8.(SBU)  The economic and political strength of the local 
piracy industry frustrates officials at the BUMDA.  The June 
2005 raid that netted over 90,000 counterfeit cassettes but 
no arrests served as a rude awakening--for the BUMDA. 
Following the raid, a suspected pirate even filed suit in 
civil court seeking over CFA 500 million in damages 
(approximately USD 1 million or more than five times the 
BUMDA's annual budget allocation from the GOM).  The case has 
noy yet gone to trial.  Lawyers for BUMDA say claims by IPR 
violators that they are adding money and jobs to the local 
economy are not easily dismissed by politicians seeking to 
secure their electoral base. 
 
9.(U)  A separate dilemma for the BUMDA and Malian artists 
involves public and private radio.  The BUMDA receives CFA 5 
million (about USD 10,000) from the ORTM (Mali's national 
television and radio station) each year in return for the 
rights to play music and show videos, but ORTM pays no 
additional royalties.  The ORTM maintains that this amount, 
which has not changed since the early 1980s, is sufficient 
because the ORTM is supporting artists by exposing their 
music and videos to a wider audience. The recording artists 
see it differently: "The ORTM," said Toumani Diabate, "uses 
my music for commercials for food and beauty products"  but 
pays Diabate nothing in return. 
 
10.(U)  Private and local radio stations pose as large a 
problem: there are more than one hundred private radio 
stations in Mali thanks in large part to the GOM's aggressive 
decentralization program.  BUMDA charges they not only 
refused pay for the rights to play music by Malian artists 
but were, in some cases, actively copying and distributing 
recordings. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Comment: A Question of Priorities 
--------------------------------- 
 
11.(SBU)  Bureaucratic squabbles between the Ministries of 
Culture, Justice and Security over the protection of IPR only 
obscure the greater issue for Malian musicians: continued 
losses in revenue due to copyright infringements.  "In Mali," 
said Salif Keita in October, "we create police squads to 
combat cigarette smuggling but never think of fighting 
against music piracy.  This upsets me because Malian music is 
suffering from this plague."  For the BUMDA, the Minister of 
Culture and private sector IPR advocates, the finger points 
squarely at the security and justice officials to enforce 
already existing IPR laws.  Unusual for the developing world, 
the international prominence of Malian musicians makes IPR a 
local issue.  Pressure exerted by Diabete, Keita, and others 
is growing, and may yet force the GOM to take a stand. 
McCulley