Comments to the United States Trade Representative Regarding South Africa Country Practice Review
PIJIP Director Sean Fiil-Flynn and North-West University Professor Klaus Beiter submitted comments to the U.S. Treade Representative related to the annual review of the eligibility of sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Their submission counters claims made by the International Intellectual Property Alliance regarding South Africa’s compliance with international copyright treaties.
Meeting with WIPO Director General Daren Tang, Spotlights NGOs’ Crucial Role in Intellectual Property Landscape
[Andrés Izquierdo] On behalf of WCL PIJIP and the Global Network on Copyright User Rights, Andrés Izquierdo attended a meeting organized by Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO. The meeting had the participation of more than 40 accredited NGOs and industry stakeholder groups. This meeting served to highlight the pivotal role played by NGOs in the Organization’s work. To the meeting also attended KEI, IFLA, and Innovarte.
South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill: Making Progress at the Provinces
[Sanya Samtani] Last week, in the latest instalment of South Africa’s copyright reform saga, the Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Small Business, Tourism, Employment and Labour at the National Council of Provinces (one of the houses of Parliament in South Africa), held a clause-by-clause vote on proposed amendments to the Copyright Amendment Bill [B13D-2017] (CAB) and Performers Protection Amendment Bill [B24-2016]. I summarise some of the salient outcomes of this vote below with regard to the CAB.
Generative AI and Author Remuneration
[Martin Senftleben] Abstract… The rights reservation option following from the regulation of text and data mining in the EU (Article 4 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market) could serve as a basis for a remuneration system focusing on the use of human creations for AI training purposes. Considering legal and practical difficulties arising from this approach, however, it is preferable to follow an alternative path and introduce a levy system that imposes a general payment obligation on providers of generative AI systems.
Libraries, archives and museums call on WIPO to finalize the Toolkit on Preservation without further changes
[Electronic Information for Libraries] EIFL and the international library, archives and museum communities have called on WIPO to finalize the new Toolkit on Preservation (document SCCR/43/4) without making any further changes to the text. The call was made in response to an invitation to delegations at WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/43) to provide written comments on the Toolkit.
Measuring Change in Copyright Exceptions for Text and Data Mining
[Michael Palmedo, Momina Imran, Miguel Alvarenga, Luca Schirru, and Duc Le] Abstract: Copyright exceptions for researchers are under debate at the World Intellectual Property Organization and within domestic governments, yet empirical research in this area is rare. In this early working paper, we aim to add to this nascent body of research. We expand PIJIP’s previous review and classification of copyright exceptions in WIPO Members’ laws by tracing changes in the laws over time. We find that most countries have copyright exceptions allowing some unauthorized uses for research purposes. However, most countries’ exceptions restrict some mix of the users, uses, or types of works that are allowed.
Generative AI, Copyright and the AI Act
[João Pedro Quintais] Generative AI is one of the hot topics in copyright law today. In the EU, a crucial legal issue is whether using in-copyright works to train generative AI models is copyright infringement or falls under existing text and data mining (TDM) exceptions in the Copyright in Digital Single Market (CDSM) Directive. In particular, Article 4 CDSM Directive contains a so-called “commercial” TDM exception, which provides an “opt-out” mechanism for rights holders. This opt-out can be exercised for instance via technological tools but relies significantly on the public availability of training datasets. This has led to increasing calls for transparency requirements. In response to these calls, the European Parliament is considering adding to its compromise version of the AI Act two specific obligations with copyright implications on providers of generative AI models: on (1) transparency and disclosure; and (2) on safeguards for AI-generated content moderation. There is room for improvement on both.
PIJIP’s Right to Research Project on World IP Day
[Sean Flynn] Today, on WIPO’s World IP Day, the Right to Research project is participating in two launches of products on text and data mining in Africa. Andres Izquierdo is at the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property supporting the African Group and their proposal of a pilot project on copyright and text and data mining for research institutions… I am at Strathmore University in Nairobi for a launch of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law’s report on Right to Research and Copyright Law in Kenya
A Great Week at WIPO
[Teresa Hackett] The 43rd session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), that sets international copyright law and policy, took place in Geneva from 13 – 17 March 2023. More than 35 civil society advocates from five continents (Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America), members of the recently formed coalition on Access to Knowledge (A2K), participated in the meeting. The results were positive. I was there throughout the week representing EIFL with Dick Kawooya, University of South Carolina, USA, and expert advisor Professor Anthony Kakooza, Makerere University, Uganda. Here are the highlights.
Nigeria’s New Copyright Act 2022: How Libraries Can Benefit
[Desmond Oriakhogba] In October 2021, I wrote about the Nigerian copyright law reform process… The reform process is now complete with the recent assent to the Bill, as the Copyright Act 2022, by the Nigerian President. The Act introduces a new vista in Nigerian copyright law as it repeals the Copyright Act 2004. How can libraries in Nigeria benefit from the Copyright Act 2022?
