Category Domestic Policy

Decolonising Copyright: Building Our Creative and Information Economy

[AfroChic] On the 7th of August 2019 RecreateSA convened a seminar in association with the South African Guild of Actors, the University of the Witwatersrand’s Library, Blind SA, the University of Cape Town’s IP Unit, the South African Democratic Teacher’s Union, Washington College of Law’s Programme on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and the University of the Witwatersrand’s Institute for Social and Economic Research. The seminar was entitled “Decolonising Copyright: Building our Creative and Information Economy” and took place in the Senate Room of the Solomon Mahlangu Building.

SPARC Urges Department of Justice to Block Merger Between Cengage and McGraw-Hill

[SPARC press release] Today, SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) submitted a detailed filing to the U.S. Department of Justice urging federal antitrust enforcers to block the proposed merger between college textbook publishing giants Cengage and McGraw-Hill Education. The merger would create the largest publisher of college course materials in the United States and the world’s second largest education publisher overall.

The Same Problem, Different Outcome: Online Copyright Infringement and Intermediaries’ Liability Under the US and the EU Law

[Lia Shikhiashvili] Abstract: ... Recently, the European Union has adopted a new Copyright Directive, which, in article 17 (ex-article 13) indirectly introduces filtering and monitoring obligations to online platforms that allow users to upload content. It creates the “de facto strict liability regime” for internet intermediaries to root out copyright-infringing content. In contrast with this approach, in the United States internet intermediaries still benefit from the legislative immunities that exclude them from copyright-infringement liability uploaded by their users. This article compares the new European Union directive with the United States approach and shows that these differences might create uncertainties in the digital marketplace. This article also reviews potential consequences of the article 17 and demonstrates the need of harmonized secondary liability regime to Internet Service Providers at European level, without sacrificing safe harbor provisions. The article proposes the adoption of “fair use doctrine” and “fair remuneration” provisions as an effective and alternative tool to protect the rights of all players in the digital scene and simultaneously tackle the so-called “value gap” problem.

The New Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive: A Critical Look

Abstract: On 17 May 2019 the official version of the new Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market was published. This marks the end of a controversial legislative process at EU level. It also marks the beginning of what will surely be a contentious process of national implementation. This article provides an overview and critical examination of the new Directive. It argues that what started as a legislative instrument to promote the digital single market turned into an industry policy tool, shaped more by effective lobbying than evidence and expertise. The result is a flawed piece of legislation.

Brazil Seeks Comments on Copyright Reform

On June 28th, the Brazilian Government through the Special Secretariat of Culture opened a new public consultation on the need to reform and update the 1998 Copyright Act. The main goal is stated to be to “deal with the new technologies and new business models that have emerged over this period”. Accordingly, streaming services, content upload and sharing platforms, artificial intelligence and so on are on the list.

The Netherlands Leads Way With Implementation of the New Educational Exception

Just one month after the new Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive went into force, the Dutch government has shared their proposal for its implementation, through an amendment of their existing copyright law. The proposal is currently in public consultation phase. We would like to provide here an overview of the Dutch proposal to implement locally the new EU educational exception (article 5 in the final version of the Directive). This is the beginning of our effort to track how countries across Europe will implement, over the coming two years, this mandatory exception to copyright for educational purposes.

Liability for User-Generated Content Online: Principles for Lawmakers

[Joint statement endorsed by 28 civil society groups and 53 individuals] Policymakers have expressed concern about both harmful online speech and the content moderation practices of tech companies. Section 230, enacted as part of the bipartisan Communications Decency Act of 1996, says that Internet services, or “intermediaries,” are not liable for illegal third-party content except with respect to intellectual property, federal criminal prosecutions, communications privacy (ECPA), and sex trafficking (FOSTA). Of course, Internet services remain responsible for content they themselves create.

Time for Copyright Laws in Africa to Change

[Electronic Information for Libraries] On 12-13 June 2019, heads of copyright offices from more than 40 African states met in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss copyright limitations and exceptions for libraries, archives, and education in the African region... The clear consensus that emerged from the two-day seminar was a recognition that copyright exceptions in Africa are wholly inadequate, especially for online uses, and that there is a real need for reform.

Implementing the Copyright Directive: Protecting the Public Domain with Article 14

[Paul Keller] Article 14 – Works of visual art in the public domain – is one of the very few unambiguously good provisions of the new EU copyright directive. The article is intended to ensure that (digital) reproductions of public domain works cannot be protected by exclusive rights, and as a result, taken out of the public domain. This legislative intervention comes in response to the relatively widespread practice of museums in claiming exclusive rights of digital reproductions of public domain works that they have in their collections and which they make available to the public.

Copyright, and Photographs or Videos of Public Art, in South Africa: An Imperfect Picture

[Bram Van Wiele] Abstract: The rise of digital photography and videography has made the creation, sharing and commercialisation of high-quality photographs and videos more accessible, in terms of both cost and skills required. This thematic report examines the impact on copyright infringement of the increase in photographs and videos containing public art. It then analyses the applicability, for such photographs and videos, of the general exceptions for protection of artistic works in South Africa’s Copyright Act 98 of 1978.

The New Copyright Directive: A tour d’horizon – Part II (of press publishers, upload filters and the real value gap)

Part I of this post discussed the legislative process and Titles I through III of the CDSM Directive. This Part II will tackle the remainder of the Directive, namely its measures to achieve a well-functioning marketplace for copyright (Title IV) and final provisions (Title V)... e IV contains the most controversial provisions of the Directive, namely the new right for press publishers and the new liability regime for user-upload platforms.