Category Limitations and Exceptions

Fair or Free Use of Copyrighted Materials in Education and Research and the Limit of Such Use

[Muhammad Masum Billah and Saleh Albarashdi] The concept of fair use, fair dealing, or free use of copyrighted works for education and research is incorporated in copyright laws around the world. This is to strike a balance between the private interests of copyright holders and the public interests of students and researchers to use the copyrighted materials in furthering their knowledge. While fair and free use of copyrighted materials for the purpose of study and research is favored and permitted under copyright laws almost everywhere in the world, the limit of such use is not clearly defined in these laws.

South Africa Seminar to Focus on Impact of User Rights in Copyright Reform

On May 8, Professor Sean Flynn will release the latest PIJIP report - The User Rights Database: Measuring the Impact of Copyright Balance at a public lecture at University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The report is being released as the South Africa Parliament deliberates on a copyright amendment bill that includes a proposal to adopt a new open and flexible general exception modeled on the US fair use clause.

Marrakesh in Action: History Is Made in Kyrgyzstan

[EIFL press release] EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) and the University of Toronto (U of T) Libraries are proud to announce the first international transfer of accessible format books to beneficiaries in Kyrgyzstan. The transfer, that took place on the occasion of a National Seminar with the IP Office of Kyrgyzstan on the Marrakesh Treaty on World Book and Copyright Day, was in response to requests from two beneficiaries: Dastan Bekeshev, a lawyer and member of parliament (MP) who lost his sight at six years of age, and Gulnaz Juzbaeva, an MBA student at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) who was born with low vision and later became blind.

Balancing Education and Copyright – Reflections after Conference on Copyright in Higher Education and Research

[Katarzyna Strycharz] MEP Axel Voss, rapporteur of the draft Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, did not expect this dossier to be so controversial. And issues relating to the educational sector are not an exception. With these words, the Eurodeputy began his speech at last week’s high-level conference, “A better copyright for quality higher education and research in Europe and beyond”. The conference was organized jointly in Brussels by the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE)and COMMUNIA Association.

IFLA Sends Comments to the Senate of the Republic of Colombia on Copyright Reform

[International Federation of Library Associations] Colombia is now in the process of reforming its copyright law (Ley 23 de 1982). In view of this reform and of the debate at the Comisión Primera of the Honourable Senate of the Republic of Colombia, IFLA submitted written comments and suggestions for specific changes to the Bill. For the preparation and submission of comments, IFLA collaborated with the Fundación Conector and had the support of the Colegio Colombiano de Bibliotecología (ASCOLBI).

The Exception for Text and Data Mining (TDM) in the Proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market – Legal Aspects

[Christophe Geiger, Giancarlo Frosio and Oleksandr Bulayenko] This research paper reproduces the study commissioned to CEIPI by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI-Committee). It provides an analysis of the European Commission’s Proposal to introduce in Article 3 a mandatory exception to copyright allowing to carrying out text and data mining of protected works, assesses its positive and negative impacts and provides some suggestions for possible improvements. Advantages of introducing an “open clause” in EU copyright law on top of an enumerated list of limitations and exceptions to address some of the related problems are also reviewed.

Copyright in Mercosur-EU Trade Agreement: A Little Better, But Mostly Worse

[Timothy Vollmer] A recently-leaked draft of the Mercosur-EU free trade agreement shows minor improvements to the chapter on intellectual property. It appears that the unnecessary and unwarranted 20 year copyright term extension is now dropped from the agreement, and the parties have introduced some flexibility for users to get around technical protection measures in order to leverage their rights. But for the most part, the negotiations continue to favor increased tightening of copyright at the expense of protections for user rights and the commons.

Defend Text and Data Mining in Europe

[Electronic Information for Libraries] European legislators should defend Europe’s ability to generate opportunities using the power of data analysis, not drive researchers to other parts of the world that have more supportive legal frameworks. That’s the strong message in an open letter sent to members of the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee by 28 organizations, including EIFL, from the public and private sectors representing universities and research organizations, journalists, large technology companies and start-ups, as well as libraries.

This Is Not How You Make Copyright Reform! Report from the Copyright Action Days

[Communia Association] Last week more than a hundred of copyright reform activists got together in Brussels for the the European Copyright Action Days to make it clear to EU lawmakers that the copyright reform effort that is currently being discussed in the European Parliament and the European Council is not good enough. In a series of events organized by Copyright 4 Creativity, Create.Refresh, Communia and others, activists and other stakeholders discussed the shortcomings of the current reform proposal as well as ideas for a more future-proof overhaul of the outdated EU copyright system.

Communia Association: Our study “Educational Licences in Europe” is out now

[Teresa Nobre] The European Union is coming closer to approving a mandatory educational exception that may address some of the limitations copyright law places on everyday educational activities. However, the current proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market would allow licences that are easily available in the market to take precedence over the educational exception. Our new report “Educational Licences in Europe“, covering the analysis of 10 agreements in Finland, France, and the United Kingdom, shows that educational licences contain terms and conditions disadvantageous to schools:

Comments to the Mexican Senate on Copyright Provisions in the NAFTA Renegotiation

I am here to speak about the importance of including provisions in NAFTA to protect the abilities of countries to have general and open public interest copyright exceptions. All three countries have such exceptions to varying degree. And all three are under threat from the agenda of some copyright holders in international forums.

My Comments to USTR for the 2018 Special 301 review

PIJIP’s research indicates that American firms operating overseas in industries that rely on copyright limitations enjoy better outcomes on average when our trading partners’ limitations are more open – defined as being open to the use of any type of work, by any user, or with a general exception that is open to any purpose subject to protections of the legitimate interests of right holders. Econometric research on both the activities of foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and service exports by U.S. firms illustrate this conclusion.  At the same time, firms in the more traditional “copyright sectors” (i.e. – music, movies, and printed media), do not seem to be negatively affected by greater balance and openness in copyright limitations.