EDITORIAL: You cannot copyright any national anthem

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.

De Wolfe's claim will not carry weight in international courts of law. National anthems are in the public domain all over the world and people can use or play the tune so long as they do not parody it.

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.

Having said that, let us not forget that the Kenyan national anthem is one of the most popular tunes on Safaricom's highly profitable Skiza service. Perhaps all profits from the Kenyan national anthem on Skiza should be donated to charity.

Quote of the day: "I'd rather be in a tent than in a house."

Mary Leakey

The Kenyan paleoanthropologist was born on 6 February, 1913