Copyright management companies risk sh50m fine, 10-Year jail term penalty for not organising general meeting

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Uganda Performing Rights Society (UPRS) is wary of a provision in the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) 2025 that seeks to imprison members of collecting societies that fail to convene an annual general assembly (AGM) to a shillings 50 million fine or 10 years imprisonment or both.

“We find this very sad and draconian. Because if a board fails to organise an AGM, this is an administrative breach and not criminal offence. So, why would I serve ten years and pay Sh50m for an administrative breach?” Board chairperson Martin Nkoyoyo wondered.

Nkoyoyo echoed this on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, during an engagement with MPs on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee, which at the time was chaired by Bugabula North MP John Teira (NRM).

“Are we saying that if you, Members of Parliament, fail to pass a Bill for instance, in your tenure, you should serve 10 years imprisonment?” Nkoyoyo said.

Uganda boasts of three collective management organisations (CMOs): UPRS represents music and sound recording, Uganda Reproduction Rights Organisation (URRO), which represents audio-video and then Uganda Federation of Movie Industry (UFMI).

CMO’s acts as a central body for copyright owners like musicians and authors among others. They are charged with issuing licenses to anyone who intends to use the latter’s work, collect royalties which are then distributed to its member rights holders.

“We are not saying or justifying that the executive committee should not be held accountable for the annual general meeting. Because actually, when you look at the principal Act, there are already provisions catering for that,” he argued.

“The point is not the lack of absence of the law. The issue has been the lack of enforcement of the law,” he added.

Clause 25 of the Bill states that every collecting society shall hold an annual general meeting within three months after the end of the calendar year. And where it fails to do so, one of their members may petition the registrar to compel the body to convene an AGM as he may determine.

Caretaker manager

Clause 26 of the Bill says a caretaker manager appointed under the above subsection shall serve on the same terms and conditions as the suspended executive officer.

Something, Nkoyoyo warned it would create more chaos. Citing a precedent that happened sometime back at UPRS where the regulator took over and suspended the manager and then appointed a caretaker manager without consultation with the members. 

“That’s what caused the agitation for the past five years. Before we sat down to amend our own society constitution. When this caretaker manager was leaving, he demanded for a lot of money from the regulator who pushed him back to UPRS,” he illustrated.

“The caretaker manager was saying no, UPRS did not hire me, you hired me……They ended up paying a lot of money to this caretaker manager,” Nkoyoyo warned.

Present were two UPRS board members, David Ebangit aka Producer Washington and Raymond Mugerwa.

Committee responds

However, committee chairperson John Teira hypothesised that the seemingly harsh provision on AGM might be aimed at curbing acts of collusion.

“I know so many instances and so many companies limited by Guarantee, especially where we have board members ‘masquerading’ as volunteers, there is always an inability to call Annual General Meetings (AGM) deliberately,” Teira said.

“We may look at the penalty as too harsh. But leaving it plain also creates other problems that the Act is trying to run away from,” he added.