infoJustice

[Timothy Vollmer, Communia, Link (CC-0)] Communia has published a policy paper on the topic of leveraging copyright in support of education. We contend that exceptions and limitations to copyright for education should support broad access and re-use of copyrighted content of all types in a variety of education settings and across borders. The best way to achieve the proper balance of interests at stake is through the adoption of an exception or limitation to copyright for educational purposes that meets the following requirements:

• it should be able to address local and cross-border education needs;
• it should be mandatory;
• it should be neutral with regard to media type, format, and technology;
• it should be flexible; and
• it should cover all necessary uses provided they are in accordance with fair practice.

We note that an exception or limitation to copyright for educational purposes is crucial because licensing will never be a wholly adequate solution to provide access to these works.

The full policy paper can be viewed online or downloaded as a PDF here.