Abstract:
Nowadays, the world we live in is growing at an unexpected pace with scientific discoveries and
inventions every day. The countries and institutions that control the world economy and are
getting rich faster are the leaders in science, technology and innovation. On the other hand, it is
worrying that those who are going in the traditional way, who are more advanced in their
scientific economic growth rates become weaker and declining. In general countries that are
awake to civilization, innovation, scientific and technological discoveries are taking the lead in
all directions to drive the world towards their desired direction as their economic, social and
political development is unfolding. Copyright protection in an international standard enhances
the level of technological advancement which has a tendency of introducing indigenous cultural
expressions to the community around the globe. Though Ethiopia has applied for membership in
2003 it is not still yet accepted to membership of the organization. Up on success in accession,
Ethiopia is required to ratify the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights that
demands the country to fulfil minimum standard of intellectual Property (IP) protection
including the copyrights. So, due to the imminence of WTO membership, closely reviewing our
copyright law in light with the TRIPS agreement is necessary for disclosing areas of disparity so
as to reform the domestic copyright law in a commensurable way. Thus, the main argument of
this thesis is that as a precondition for WTO accession the Copyright law of Ethiopia which fails
to extend protection to certain copyrightable works such as to compilation of data; unclear to
the extent of originality to grant protection; magnitude of contribution in works of joint authors;
scope of authority granted to courts and administrative bodies on civil cases relating to
copyright infringement and related legal gaps. This affects economic benefit of right holders of
copyrightable works and neglects moral rights of the authors. It suggests that reforming or
amending the Ethiopian copyright law, the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection
Proclamation No. 410/2004 and the Amendment Proclamation No. 872/2014, to include
copyright protection on areas of the above mentioned gaps. This ascertains clear guarantee of
protection for works of copyright holders and will enhance economic value of copyright by
making Ethiopia a participant in international free trades up on WTO accession.
