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COURT CASE TO #ENDTHEBOOKFAMINE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED TO BE HEARD 21 SEPTEMBER 2021

Section 27 Press Release | Link

8 September 2021, Johannesburg – BlindSA, represented by SECTION27, is going to court to fight for the rights of people who are blind or visually impaired by asking the court to amend the apartheid era Copyright Act for greater access to reading materials in accessible formats. The case will be heard in a virtual sitting of the High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division) on 21 September 2021.

People without visual disabilities can access books, journals, newspapers, and other published works in formats that they can read. For people with visual disabilities, however, South Africa’s copyright regime represents a huge barrier to accessing the same published works. The current Copyright Act of 1978 does not allow for exceptions for copyright, and makes it difficult for people with visual disabilities to convert published works into accessible formats such as braille. As a result, persons who are blind or visually impaired must often take steps to identify copyright holders and request their permission to convert their works. This can take an unreasonably long time, while running the risk of not being granted permission. We will argue that the current Act constitutes unfair discrimination. Under the current copyright regime, many copyright holders deny requests for format shifting, which limits the library of reading materials that people with visual disabilities can access, with less than 0.5% of published works available in accessible formats in South Africa. By limiting cross-border exchange of suitably formatted published works, people who are blind or visually impaired are forced to reinvent the wheel by converting materials domestically from scratch, often at great personal expense. The current Act therefore infringes on the rights to equality, dignity, basic and further education, freedom of expression, language and participation in the cultural life of one’s choice for people with visual disabilities.

The national legislature has acknowledged the unconstitutionality of the current Act and has committed to reforming it to bring it in line with our Bill of Rights and various international commitments. The Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) includes a section called 19D which allows general exceptions regarding protection of copyright works for people with disabilities. This section would allow people with disabilities to develop or import accessible format copies of published works without first having to secure the permission of the copyright holder, vastly improving access to reading materials.

Click here for the full press release on the Section 27 website.