The Bill is exceptional in including what will be the world’s most well considered and detailed fair use right. The fair use and education rights are eminently reasonable for a country founded on the principle that all laws must promote the Bill of Rights, including rights to freedom of speech, to receive information, and to education.
Read MoreSouth Africa and other countries are currently considering proposals to convert from a “fair dealing” to a “fair use” user rights system. Some critics of the change fill their arguments with hyperbole without describing the facts about what is really at stake. This note attempts to dispel some common myths about fair use by describing what fair use is, and what is not.
Read More[Sean Flynn and Peter Jaszi] We commend the Copyright Amendment Bill’s proposed introduction of an innovative, forward-thinking and South Africa-specific open general exception for “fair use.” The enclosed comments make the following main points: Fair use promotes innovation and free expression – as shown in the experience of other countries who have adopted it; The fair use provision, and the other limitations and exceptions in the bill, are fully compliant with the international “three step test”; The fair use clause will increase predictability under the law by adding an explicit fairness test; Experience in other countries does not support allegations that adopting fair use will increase litigation, shift burdens of proof onto copyright holders, decimate thepublishing industry or authorize widespread piracy.
Read MoreSingapore recently released its long awaited report on copyright reform. As expected, the report proposes to eliminate the fifth factor of its fair use test – which requires examination of whether a license is available for the activity in question. The proposed reforms go much further, echoing many of the policies and approaches of South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill in focusing on the rights of individual creators at the center of the reform.
Read MoreIt was a day of copyright drama in the South African Parliament on the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s passing. The National Assembly was considering the Copyright Amendment Bill in the full chamber. …When the votes were taken, parties representing an overwhelming majority of the MPs had endorsed the bill, but it came up 12 votes short of what was needed to pass it on to the Council of the Provinces (the second house). The battle for copyright reform in South Africa appeared lost until the new year. But hours later the drama continued. After passing a new performers protection bill, more MPs from the ANC were whipped to join the chamber and the Copyright Amendment Bill was passed on a second vote.
Read More[Sean Flynn, Peter Jaszi, and Michael Carroll] On Wednesday the South African National Assembly vote on the Copyright Amendment Bill, which includes a new “fair use” right. The publishing industry is marking the occasion by circulating an alarmist petition that the legislation will have a “direct and detrimental impact on all South African authors.” Learned professors at the University of Stellenbosch have taken to calling the bill “shambolic”, and “an abomination.” . It is certainly time for a little light to go with the heat.
Read MoreJon Band and I were asked by the education and research beneficiary groups to work with them to draft model instruments that would reflect the work of the SCCR thus far and contribute to the development of an international instrument on education and research exceptions to copyright. The result of this project is the Civil Society Proposed Treaty on Educational and Research Activities (TERA). We release the Draft Treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights for the first time today. Here I describe briefly our methodology in creating the draft and the main provisions of it. Further information is available at http://infojustice.org/tera
Read MoreMr Chairman, I speak here on behalf of PIJIP’s role as the coordinator of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights – an international coalition of academics and researchers. We urge the Committee to use this session to add content to the agenda for regional seminars.
Read More39 education and research organizations, including the 30 million members of Education International, are calling upon the World Intellectual Property Organization to adopt a Treaty on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Educational and Research Activities (TERA). TERA is open for endorsement by organizations and individuals. The Treaty was adopted at the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest on September 27, 2018, and released in revised form this week. The Treaty is the result of extensive consultation with numerous Member States and stakeholders in the education and research field, including at multiple workshops around the world.
Read More[With Jonathan Band and Zhao Zhao] The World Intellectual Property Organization has long recognized the importance of copyright exceptions to education and research…. However, there is great disparity in WIPO member states concerning the adequacy of exceptions for education and research. In particular, the exceptions in many developing countries are insufficient to meet their pressing needs, in accordance with the United Nation’s sustainable development goal of quality education. Accordingly, a treaty on copyright exceptions and limitations for educational and research activities is necessary to establish global norms in this critical area. This background paper describes a proposed treaty that has been endorsed by a coalition of civil society groups. It has been updated from an October 8 Version to includes a section-by-section description of the treaty text.
Read MoreThe World Intellectual Property Organization has long recognized the importance of copyright exceptions to education and research…. However, there is great disparity in WIPO member states concerning the adequacy of exceptions for education and research. In particular, the exceptions in many developing countries are insufficient to meet their pressing needs, in accordance with the United Nation’s sustainable development goal of quality education. Accordingly, a treaty on copyright exceptions and limitations for educational and research activities is necessary to establish global norms in this critical area.
Read MoreToday, we release a treaty proposal to take another step toward the goal of a set of binding norms that require all countries to make research and learning materials available for use by all, whenever such use is in accord with the time-tested copyright principle of “fair practice.” The Civil Society Proposed Treaty on Copyright Exceptions for Educational and Research Activities has been endorsed by 15 civil society and research organizations at the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest. It is open for review and endorsement
Read More[Sean Flynn and Peter Jaszi] We write in reference to the August 1, 2018, filing of the IIPA, in respect of South Africa’s proposed copyright amendments. IIPA claims that adoption of the South Africa copyright amendment bill “would place South Africa out of compliance with the AGOA eligibility criteria regarding intellectual property.” We find this claim wholly unsupported.
Read MoreWe commend Parliament for its forward-looking copyright amendments that will assist South African creators and users of copyrighted works benefit from the digital age. We commend you as well for the open public process through which you have drafted the bill. We support the specific textual suggestions included in the ReCreateSA submission. We provide the following comments focusing on Section 12 of the draft Copyright Amendment Bill, and in particular the “fair use” provision in 12B.
Read MoreThank you chair. I want to speak quickly to the issue of limitations and exceptions for the Broadcast treaty should one proceed. We should not be using a 20 year old model that ignores the many advancements in this area. With all due respect, both the chair’s text and the proposal by Argentina and Brazil at the last round are unduly limited. They do not include mandatory exceptions from other agreements, including Berne and Marrakesh. Nor do they consider the needs of libraries, archives, museums or for education or research activities currently in discussion in this committee. Nor do they include the best examples of provisions protecting domestic policy space.
Read MoreIn the latest report from the South Africa copyright amendment bill process (see below), the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee suggested that it may be taking its fair use proposal off the table… notes from the most recent committee meeting conclude that the copyright exception provisions in the bill might be limited to “address the issues of hearing-impaired people, librarians and museum staff, and the Department of Trade and Industry would select a third issue, but one that was not contentious so that the legislation could be fast-tracked.”
Read MoreThe Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law and Professor Daniel Gervais hosted the 2018 Symposium titled JETLaw Symposium, Dramatic Changes: The Effect of International Trade on Intellectual Property and Human Rights on Thursday, January 25, 2018 at Vanderbilt Law School. The Symposium featured three panels of scholars discussing issues related to the intersection of these three topics.
Read MoreI am here to speak about the importance of including provisions in NAFTA to protect the abilities of countries to have general and open public interest copyright exceptions. All three countries have such exceptions to varying degree. And all three are under threat from the agenda of some copyright holders in international forums.
Read MoreAt this year’s WTO ministerial there will be debates about adopting a new E-Commerce agenda to regulate Internet trade – but one of Latin America’s leading NGOs working on the issue is not allowed to go. Derechos Digitales...
Read MoreAt the latest meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, there was new movement on copyright limitations and exceptions. Argentina and Brazil tabled language that adds more specificity to the...
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