infoJustice

Originally posted Nov 29, updated Dec 5, 2016

A Copyright Amendment Bill will be tabled in Parliament by the South African government proposing to reform the current system of copyright law in the country to include a “fair use” clause modeled on US law. American University Washington College of Law’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) is visiting South Africa December 1 through 15 to participate in a series of workshops and lectures exploring how adoption of the proposed fair use standard may benefit creativity, innovation and development in the country. The workshops and presentations will include discussion of recommendations on the Bill submitted by legal scholars in a Joint Academic Submission on the Copyright Bill, consisting of a summary letter, table of section-specific comments, and proposed text for Sections 12 and 12A.

Events being sponsored by PIJIP and partner organizations of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights include:

• 1 December 2016. Joint Open Access Seminar. Hosted by Wits Library, Research Office, Centre for Learning, Training and Development (CLTD), and the Wider Gauteng IR Forum. Keynote Address – Copyright Flexibility for the Public Interest – Prof Sean Flynn, Washington College of Law, American University, USA.   Queries to Denise Nicholson Denise.Nicholson@wits.ac.za
• 5 December 2016 – Workshop on the Copyright Amendment Bill 2015, Parliamentary Information Centre. For parliament members and staff only. Queries to Tholakele Xulu.– EXT.: 2035, txulu@parliament.gov.za
• 6 December 2016 – Workshop on SA Copyright Amendment Bill, UCT IP Unit, Cape Town. Queries: theresa.hume@uct.ac.za
• 8 December 2016 – Copyright User Rights Seminar, LINK Center, Wits University, Johannesburg. Queries to Dr. Chris Armstrong, LINK Centre, chris.armstrong@wits.ac.za

The Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights is a project of PIJIP that mobilizes research and academic expertise to promote the achievement of balance in copyright reform around the world through inclusion of appropriately general, open and flexible exceptions.

To seek an invitation for any of the specific events, please use the contact for each event listed above. Future workshops will take place in Australia and New Zealand in February, at American University in Washington DC in March and in Toronto, Canada in April. Specific announcement for those events are forthcoming, and further information will also be available on our Copyright User Rights Network webpage.