Limitations & Exceptions to Copyright

PIJIP and the AU Center for Social Media Release Set of Principles in Fair Use for Journalism

Posted by PIJIP on June 10, 2013 No Responses »

Jun 102013

[Reposted from pijip-impact.org] This document is a statement of principles to help journalists in the United States interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. It is intended for anyone who engages in the set of practices that entails creating media of any kind that refers to real-life events of public interest, in service of public knowledge, whether that person is a full-time professional or an individual who takes it upon himself or herself to report about specific issues or events. In other words, the definition of “journalism” to which this document speaks is defined by acts, not titles, and is an inclusive one, reflecting (in part) the changing nature of the technologies that support and enable journalistic practice.

The project was coordinated by American University Professors Peter Jaszi (Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, Washington College of Law) and Patricia Aufderheide (Center for Social Media, School of Communication). Continue reading »

Testimony Prepared for the USTR Hearing on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Posted by Sean Flynn on May 28, 2013 No Responses »

May 282013

This submission is made in my personal capacity.

The central point of this submission is that the TTIP negotiation should exclude intellectual property issues. It should exclude IP issues because the US trade policy lacks IP proposals that have the kind of broad-based support necessary to be adopted in a trade negotiation of this kind – i.e. one that is ultimately multilateral, requiring consent by a wide range of diverse countries. This is the prime lesson that should be drawn from the failure of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and the Free Trade Area of the Americas before it, as well as from the current deadlock in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation. It is the prime lesson of the mounting evidence that our bilateral commitments do not contain sufficient flexibility to accommodate current proposals to amend our own intellectual property laws. US trade policy on intellectual property needs to be rethought. In the mean time, there should be a moratorium on any new efforts to negotiate IP commitments in trade forums that are not fully open, transparent and accommodating of the full range of inputs necessary to produce good policy. Continue reading »

Changes in U.S. Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Proposal Needed to Accommodate Copyright Policy Proposals

Posted by Sean Flynn on May 21, 2013 No Responses »

May 212013

As the Trans Pacific Partnership creeps toward an end game (which appears far off) it may be worth spending more time discussing positive proposals for amending the proposal in various ways. I have previously written on ideas for positive proposals from the perspective of the non-U.S. parties, both in the form of a short list of proposals and in a longer jointly-written article. This note focuses on copyright proposals for the TPP that should be of interest to U.S. negotiators in order to bring their proposal in line with their expressed policy goals as well as with recent copyright reform proposals discussed in Congress and by the Librarian of Congress. Continue reading »

The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright

Posted by Michael Geist on May 2, 2013 1 Response »

May 022013

[Posted to michaelgeist.ca (CC-BY)(Link)] Copyright cases typically only reach the Supreme Court of Canada once every few years, ensuring that each case is carefully parsed and analyzed. As readers of this blog know, on July 12, 2012, the Supreme Court issued rulings on five copyright cases in a single day, an unprecedented tally that shook the very foundations of copyright law in Canada. In fact, with the decisions coming just weeks after the Canadian government passed long-awaited copyright reform legislation, Canadian copyright law experienced a seismic shift that will take years to sort out.

I am delighted to report that this week the University of Ottawa Press published The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law, an effort by many of Canada’s leading copyright scholars to begin the process of examining the long-term implications of the copyright pentalogy. Continue reading »

Op-ed on Publisher Lawsuit Against Delhi University: Why Students Need the Right to Copy

Posted by REPOST on April 28, 2013 No Responses »

Apr 282013

[Shamnad Basheer] Late last year, leading publishing houses including Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press brought a copyright action against Delhi University and a tiny photocopy shop licensed by it, seeking to restrain them from supplying educational course packs to students. This lawsuit sent shock waves across the academic community, leading more than 300 authors and academics including famed Nobel laureate Professor Amartya Sen to protest this copyright aggression in an open letter to publishers. Tellingly, 33 of the authors of various books mentioned specifically in the lawsuit (as having been copied in the course packs) signed this protest letter making it clear that they were dissociating themselves from this unfortunate lawsuit.

Click here for the full op-ed on thehindu.com.

A la demande générale, nous avons traduit en français le manuel sur l’usage loyal et l’utilisation équitable

Posted by Jonathan Band on April 17, 2013 No Responses »

Apr 172013

[By popular demand, we have created a French version of the Fair Use/Fair Dealing Handbook] Plus de 40 pays, qui comptent plus du tiers de la population mondiale, ont inscrit des dispositions d’usage loyal ou d’utilisation équitable dans leur législation sur le droit d’auteur. Ils sont dans toutes les régions du monde et à tous les niveaux de développement. La vaste diffusion de l’usage loyal et de l’utilisation équitable fait qu’il n’existe pas de fondement pour bloquer l’adoption encore plus généralisée de ces doctrines, avec les avantages que leur flexibilité représente pour les auteurs, les éditeurs, les consommateurs, les sociétés de technologie, les bibliothèques, les musées, les établissements d’enseignement et les gouvernements. Continue reading »

How Flexibility Supports the Goals of Copyright Law: Fair use and the U.S. Library Experience

Posted by Elizabeth Hadzima on April 4, 2013 No Responses »

Apr 042013

[Excerpt from a white paper prepared by Elizabeth Hadzima, Alexandra Wood, Lila Bailey, and Jennifer Urban]

This briefing paper describes how the flexibility of the fair use doctrine in United States (U.S.) copyright law helps U.S. libraries fulfill their missions and offers suggestions for how flexible limitations and exceptions, when used in conjunction with purpose-specific exceptions or other approaches, might similarly benefit libraries outside of the United States. The experience of U.S. libraries may be beneficial in understanding the valuable role that flexibility can play in creating robust copyright frameworks that can assist libraries in performing their vital public responsibilities. Increasing libraries’ capacity to perform their key activities allows the public to realize its investment in libraries and also benefits society as a whole. Continue reading »

Trade Negotiator Probir Mehta Discusses “Binding Commitments” on Copyright Flexibilities in the TPP

Posted by Mike Palmedo on March 29, 2013 No Responses »

Mar 292013

Yesterday the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) held a panel on “21st Century Issues” in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, which featured speakers on e-commerce/telecommunications, SOEs, regulatory coherence, and intellectual property.

According to an account of the discussion on ustr.gov, IP negotiator Probir Mehta “stressed that the U.S. is pushing for binding commitments from TPP partners so that they also achieve a balance in their copyright systems in providing exceptions and limitations for scholarship, criticism, news reporting, research and other legitimate purposes — as in the United States.” During the Q&A, Mehta “reminded listeners that consistency with U.S. law means that the United States also wants to see reflected the wealth of exceptions and limitations that provide great benefits to American consumers, scholars, writers, artists, and others.” Continue reading »

National Human Rights Body Recommends Abolishing Three-Strike-Out Rule

Posted by Heesob Nam on March 28, 2013 No Responses »

Mar 282013

[Reposted from http://hurips.blogspot.kr] Today the National Human Rights Commissionof S. Korea published a special report on information human rights. It is the first report comprehensively discussing the progress of information and communication technologies in terms of human rights and providing recommendations for the protection, promotion, and enjoyment of information human rights. In this report, the information human rights covers four different categories: rights to information privacy; freedom of expression online; rights to access to information; and rights to culture and information. Continue reading »

The Fair Use/Fair Dealing Handbook

Posted by Jonathan Band on March 27, 2013 No Responses »

Mar 272013

[Updated on April 3, 2013, to include Liberia.] More than 40 countries with over one-third of the world’s population have fair use or fair dealing provisions in their copyright laws. These countries are in all regions of the world and at all levels of development. The broad diffusion of fair use and fair dealing indicates that there is no basis for preventing the more widespread adoption of these doctrines, with the benefits their flexibility brings to authors, publishers, consumers, technology companies, libraries, museums, educational institutions, and governments. Continue reading »

Newly Implemented Korean Fair Use and the Three Step Test

Posted by Jaewoo Cho on February 28, 2013 No Responses »

Feb 282013

The approach to copyright limitations and exceptions differs significantly in each country depending on what models they are following. Generally speaking, there are three models of limitations and exceptions to copyright[1]: 1) the U.S. fair use model, 2) the fair dealing model in most U.K Commonwealth and Continental European countries, and 3) a combination of the U.S. and European models found in recently amended Korean Copyright Act.[2]

The U.S. fair use system allows for open-ended lists of permissible use based on statutory factors[3] that leave the task of identifying each case of exempted unauthorized use to the courts. On other hand, the Continental European countries provide a closed catalog of defined copyright limitations and exceptions. The newly amended Korean Copyright Act offers both 1) a closed list of permissible use (as with the European model) and 2) an open-ended consideration based on statutory factors (as with the U.S. model). Continue reading »

Colombian Court Strikes FTA Copyright Bill: “Ley Lleras 2″

Posted by Sean Flynn on January 24, 2013 No Responses »

Jan 242013

Our Colombian Colleagues Marcela Palacio Puera, Andres Izquierdo, and Carolina Botero have drawn our attention to the breaking news that the Colombian Constitutional Court has struck down the Free Trade Agreement Copyright implementation bill known as “Lley Lleras 2” on procedural grounds. Continue reading »

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