Fair Use in Korea

[Sang Jo Jong] Thank you for inviting me to the ADA Copyright Forum. I am more than delighted to be able to introduce the Korean experience on fair use. …for more than thirty years, Korea has strengthened copyright for the benefit of creators. Many scholars including myself have raised serious questions about what happened to users’ rights under the Copyright Act of Korea. During the course of debates and discussion to strike a good balance between apparently conflicting interests of creators and users, Korea has faced two options. One option was to expand the scope of exceptions. Another option was to introduce a general clause on fair use. Korea opted for the second choice in 2011. Click here for more.

Statement of Public Interest Principles for Copyright Protection under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

[Civil Society Statement authored by Haochen Sun, click here to sign] …The RCEP Intellectual Property (IP) Chapter will set out a host of minimum standards for IP protection in the sixteen participating countries. We are deeply concerned about the copyright protection standards proposed for the RCEP IP Chapter. They may cause unintended effects of stifling creativity, free speech, and economic growth. We urge that the new rounds of RCEP negotiations reconsider those standards by applying the following three principles: Integrate the public interest as a core value for copyright negotiations; Increase transparency of negotiations for the public interest; Institute changes in copyright provisions for the public interest. Click here for more.

MSF Calls on Japan and South Korea to Drop the Harmful RCEP Measures

[Médecins Sans Frontières] As 16 countries negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement meet next week in Kobe, Japan, for the seventeenth round of negotiations, international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is appealing to the Japanese and South Korean governments to withdraw harmful proposals that will restrict people’s access to affordable generic medicines. While being negotiated behind closed-doors, Japan and South Korea are aggressively pushing for measures in the RCEP agreement that would emphasise stronger pharmaceutical corporation power at the expense of public health, threatening millions of lives globally. Click here for more.

Argentinian Copyright Office Proposes To Add Exceptions and Limitations to Copyright Act

[Maximiliano Marzetti] On 12 December, the Argentinian Copyright Office and the Ministry of Culture invited a group of stakeholders, among which was this author, to discuss the final draft of the Exceptions and Limitations Bill (Proyecto de Ley de Excepciones) to modify current Copyright Act no.11.723 of 1933. One wonders whether it would be better to draft from scratch a modern Copyright Act instead of patching up the old 1933 Act. Nevertheless, the bill is welcomed. Argentina, as this author has already expressed, has one of the most restrictive copyright laws in the world. Click here for more.

Fair Use – Fair Dealing Week

Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2017 took place February 20-24. It is an annual event that celebrates the important doctrines of fair use in the United States and fair dealing in Canada and other jurisdictions. It is designed to highlight and promote the opportunities presented by fair use and fair dealing, celebrate successful stories, and explain these doctrines. Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week is commissioned by the Association of Research Libraries, which has posted numerous interviews, blogs, and other resources at fairuseweek.org.

Fair Dealing: To Replace or Reinstate?

[Teresa Hackett] EIFL is participating in Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week, an annual celebration designed to highlight and promote the opportunities presented by fair use and fair dealing, celebrate success stories, and explain these doctrines. Over 40 countries around the world have fair use or fair dealing in their copyright laws. In this blog, Teresa Hackett, EIFL’s Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, discusses the evolution of fair dealing in the copyright laws of five EIFL partner countries: Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Lesotho, Myanmar and Uganda. Click here for more.

Meera Nair on Fair Dealing in Canada

[Meera Nair] Tomorrow marks the start of Fair Dealing Week in Canada. There is much to be proud of with the steady advance in the realm of exceptions, gained not by intemperate action but by deliberative thought on the part of the judiciary, the government, the Copyright Board, and, institutions and individuals across the country. A moment of celebration and pride is warranted. Yet, significant challenges remain.  Click here for more.

EIFL Joins Advocates of Quality Education to Call for a Better Copyright Reform in Europe

[Electronic Information for Libraries] In 2016, libraries globally were set to spend 30 billion USD on books, journals, databases and other information resources, mostly paid from public funds. So when it comes to using the resources, libraries want fair access for their users, reasonable ability to reuse the material and value for taxpayer money. That’s why EIFL has joined a call by 34 organizations representing education, libraries and an open internet for a better copyright reform for education in Europe. On 7 February 2017, COMMUNIA, a European network that advocates for policies that expand the digital public domain, sent a joint letter to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who are currently scrutinizing copyright reform proposals issued by the European Commission in September 2016. Click here for more.