Recent years have seen a remarkable upturn in scholarship on copyright in Africa in general and its intersection with competition law and policy frameworks in particular. Multi-Sided Music Platforms and the Law takes the discussion further through a detailed examination of global platforms such as YouTube, SoundCloud and Facebook and the profound impact these firms have on the creative sectors and the economy more broadly of developing countries.

According to Professor Caroline Ncube in the foreword, this book is an important and timely contribution to the discussion of music platforms and is the first work that considers multi-sided platforms from the perspectives of copyright, competition and privacy under South African and Nigerian laws.

For the second time, the Law Faculty of the Cave Hill Campus, University of the West Indies, fielded a team of three students – Sarah Baksh, Kara John, and Matthew Chin Barnes – to participate in the All American Regional Round of the 2020 John  H.  Jackson  Moot  Court  Competition  (JHJMCC), a moot court based on the law of the World Trade Organization. Mr Westmin James (Lecturer, Law Faculty, Cave Hill) coached the team, and Dr. Jan Yves Remy (Deputy Director of the SRC at the Cave Hill Campus) provided support. Due to COVID-19, the combined North and Latin American Regional Rounds which had been scheduled to take place at the Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico, had to be conducted virtually, the first time in the Competition’s history.

Every April 26, we celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day to learn about the role that intellectual property rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity. This year, the World Intellectual Property Day puts innovation – and the intellectual property rights that support it – at the heart of efforts to create a green future. Why? Because the choices we make today will shape our tomorrow. The earth is our home. We need to care for it.

Students who study law at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) participate in various moot court competitions involving a wide array of legal fields. One example is the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition. NUL has taken part in this competition on four occasions- twice making it into the international final round. There are several challenges to teaching International Economic Law (IEL) at NUL (these have been traversed in an earlier piece). However, participation in moot court competitions has proved to be a novel way of overcoming some of these challenges.

“Africa’s riches” include its law students, and Africa has the means to unleash that resource for its own benefit and the world’s. To close the circle and exhort the law students and young lawyers of Africa: seize the opportunities, face the challenges, and remember, Nelson Mandela’s words; I never lose. I either win or learn.

The Beijing Treaty deals with the intellectual property rights of performers in audiovisual performances, notably by bolstering five kinds of exclusive economic rights for the beneficiaries’ performances fixed in an audiovisual format: the rights of reproduction, distribution, rental, making available and broadcasting and communication to the public.  As home to Africa’s largest movie industry (Nollywood), the third largest movie industry globally, as well as one of the most dynamic global entertainment industries, this Treaty bears significant implications for actors and creative performers in Nigeria.

In sum, I would say that as a team our moot experience has been shaped by perseverance, thirst, research, practice, and teamwork. Any African students who learn from our lessons can become phenomenal

Supporting moot court competition through funding initiatives is one way to offer support. Another way is to offer knowledge and expertise on substantive law as well as presentation skills.

This symposium presents two interesting memoirs of African students who have participated in these moots and have chosen paths of graduate studies that are related to international economic law and development studies. Mr Mishael Wambua a student at Strathmore University Law and last year winner and best oralist at the John H. Jackson writes about his experience and advice to future mooters. Ms Purity Maritim a former participant of the same moot and now a masters student at the Graduate Institute in Geneva also writes about her experiences and what she learnt from the moot. The other two contributions are from Mr Christian Campbell the Assistant Director FDI moot and Tsotang Tsietsi lecturer and moot coach from the National University of Lesotho. These two contributions present two interesting perspectives on the many directions that moot court competitions can take for Africa in the near future.