Copyright In The National Anthem

The issue of who holds the copyright in national anthems is not one that comes up much, but it is one that the Ugandan Court of Appeal recently had to consider.

The Ugandan national anthem is called Oh Uganda, Land of Beauty. It goes back all the way to 1962, the year in which Uganda became independent. However, the dispute relating to the copyright in the anthem was resolved only recently in the case of Mary Theresa Kakoma, as administrator of the estate of Professor George W Kakoma v Attorney General Civil Appeal No. 50 of 2011.

The facts are interesting. In early 1962, in anticipation of independence, the Ugandan authorities asked for entries for a national anthem in an open competition. Some 50 entries were submitted, from which a shortlist of four including Oh Uganda, Land of Beauty, was put forward to a committee set up by the cabinet of the government of the then Prime Minister (and later President), Dr Milton Obote.

After several consideration, the committee opted for the Oh Uganda, Land of Beauty composition with some amendments. The anthem was first performed at the Independence Day celebrations on 9 October 1962. The composer was given UGX2 000.

Many years later, the composer sued in the High Court for an order declaring, inter alia, that he was the lawful holder of the copyright in the national anthem, and that he was entitled to 40 years' worth of royalties. The trial court substantially disallowed the claim but held that there was dual ownership of copyright in the composition, with the composer holding a legal interest and the government holding an equitable interest by virtue of the amendments made to the composition. On this basis, the trial court awarded the composer compensation of UGX50-million for the “the residue of his interest in the copyright”. The composer was dissatisfied with the award and filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal. Judgment was given on 15 July 2019. Unfortunately, the composer has since passed on.

The appellant argued that the judge had erred in finding that the composer had been commissioned to compose the anthem because there had been no contract. It was claimed that the song was composed before the competition was announced, so the copyright must have belonged to the composer at the point of creation of the composition. It was further argued that there had been no assignment of copyright as was decided in the trial court because an assignment had to be in writing. The UGX2 000 received was amere...