British company De Wolfe Music has claimed the copyright of the Kenya National Anthem on YouTube (see P8). The Kenya Copyright Board yesterday said it may be necessary to amend the Copyright Act concerning the national anthem as copyright falls into the public domain after fifty years. Special performances or arrangements of the national anthem may be copyrighted but there cannot be a general copyright of a national anthem. Google was wrong to allow De Wolfe to claim copyright over a national anthem and it should cancel De Wolfe's copyright on its YouTube service. Perhaps all profits from the Kenyan national anthem on Skiza should be donated to charity.

Source: The Star February 05, 2019 21:00 UTC