April, 23 is world copyright and book day. However local artistes in Guyana are at a great disadvantage where the copyright law is concerned. Singers, writers and artists are being exploited because people are using and making replicas of their work without their permission. However there are means and ways for these artistes going around and protecting their work.

It was reported that the copyright law do exist in Guyana, but that was during 1956 under the United Kingdom (UK) act but it is not amended and needs to be implemented. Nevertheless there was a copyright case in Guyana with Barrington Braithwaite vs. Ravi Dell in which Braithwaite, a local musician and playwright, won on 4^th October, 1992. According to Braithwaite he had written book based on one of his play, Shadow of the jaguar, and Ravi Dell used his logo which had his name and the all rights reserved logo (©) next to it and Dell did not seek permission before using it so he took it to court and he won it due to the © that he had next to his name.

 However Braithwaite disclosed that he had lost a copyright case in the United States Of America (USA) because the © does not necessary protect your work in the USA because you need to be registered and have a copyright certificate ,before you can enjoy royalties.
Here is a short video with local artiste,Ossie Nedd, talking about copyright laws in Guyana.