Category Limitations and Exceptions

Creative Workers’ Union Letter to President of South Africa, re: Copyright Amendment Bill

[International Federation of Actors; International Federation of Musicians; and UNI – Media, Entertainment & Arts] We are writing to you as it has become apparent that several international industry federations in the publishing, music and audiovisual sector have approached you with scaremongering letters to avert your approval of a much-needed reform in South Africa, including vital provisions to enhance the livelihood of professional performers and authors. We want you to know that we strongly disapprove of this initiative.

IIPA Petition Leads USTR to Review South Africa’s GSP Benefits

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced an upcoming review of South Africa's eligibility for trade benefits under the General System of Preferences (GSP), a system which allows duty-free imports from developing countries that meet certain criteria. According to the announcement, USTR "is accepting a petition from the International Intellectual Property Alliance based on concerns with South Africa’s compliance with the GSP IP criterion, in the area of copyright protection and enforcement." It will publish a Federal Register Notice requesting comments and announcing the dates of a public hearing.

South Africa’s Copyright Bill Is Good for Digital Archives – Here’s Why

The current Copyright Act has no provisions for libraries, archives, galleries and museums. As an afterthought, limited provisions were included in Section 13 regulations for libraries and archives. Digitisation is the main form of preserving material in the 21st century. Yet the country’s copyright law doesn’t permit it. This causes serious problems for libraries, archives, museums and galleries. They are currently unable to digitise any of their works without first having to get copyright permission, and to pay high copyright fees.

PIJIP Events in Brazil to Focus on Copyright and Rights to Education and Research

PIJIP, in its role as chair of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights, will sponsor two events in Brazil to discuss how copyright can promote rights to access educational and research materials. The meetings are being planned at a time when these issues are being discussed in an agenda item of the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. Brazil has also announced a copyright reform process. Details on the meetings, each of which is open to the public, are detailed below.

Comments on the Way Forward on Limitations and Exceptions by WIPO Deputy Director General for Copyright, Silvie Forbin

The following statement was made by Deputy Director General Sylvie Forbin at the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights summarizing the conclusions from the international conference on limitations and exceptions held October 18-19 in Geneva, Switzerland. The text below is a transcript of an oral presentation and may contain small errors and incomplete syntax given the mode of presentation. A fuller written report on the conference and regional seminars will be published by the Secretariat two months before the 40th meeting of the SCCR. The date for the 40th SCCR has not been set.

Article 17 Stakeholder Dialogue (Day 1): Same Old, Same Old

[Communia Association] Article 17(10) of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market directive requires the Commission to “organise stakeholder dialogues to discuss best practices for cooperation between online content-sharing service providers and rightholders”. Last week Tuesday we took part in the first meeting of the stakeholder dialogue. The dialogue (which will consist of a series of meetings) is supposed to provide the Commission with input for producing guidelines can “balance fundamental rights and the use of exceptions and limitations” with the upload filtering obligations introduced by Article 17 of the directive.

Civil Society Letter to WIPO Delegates Attending the 39th SCCR

[Letter endorsed by 10 civil society groups] We are shocked by the attached proposal of the Chair to change the title of the agenda items on limitations and exceptions and prioritize discussions of the “role of licensing, contractual-based solutions, etc.” We are also troubled by the measures that will have the effect of reducing action on limitations and exceptions to “capacity building” and “tool kits.”

Civil Society Groups Voice Concerns With WIPO’s Proposed Broadcasting Treaty Ahead of the 39th SCCR

The 39th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) will meet next week in Geneva. On the agenda for this session are discussions around the Multilateral Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations. A number of organisations such as Communia, Creative Commons, the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property Education International, Electronic Information for Libraries, and the International Council on Archives among others have expressed concerns about the current exceptions and limitations text of the treaty. These organisations have drafted a proposal for alternative text to be included in the treaty that they hope will be discussed at the upcoming SCCR session.

Harvard Professor Ruth Okediji Calls for New Public Interest Copyright System

Professor Ruth Okediji Delivered the 8th Annual Peter A. Jaszi Distinguished Lecture on Intellectual Property. Her lecture addressed The Unfinished Business of Copyright Limitations and Exceptions. Professor Okediji called for a new paradigm of thinking about the relationship between copyright and the public interest. “The excesses of the copyright system cannot be remedied by limitations and exceptions alone,” she exclaimed.

Libraries and Archives File Amicus Brief Promoting Digital Preservation

Organizations representing libraries and archives filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Allen v. Cooper, a case concerning the constitutionality of a statute that seeks to limit the sovereign immunity of state governments against claims for copyright infringement. The amicus brief focuses on the negative impact the elimination of sovereign immunity would have on digital preservation.