Contribution to Briefing Materials
Global Research Network on Copyright Flexibilities in National Legal Reform
December 18-20, 2011 – Amsterdam, NL
Participants are asked to prepare answers to this questionnaire (available here as a Word document) and return it to mpalmedo@wcl.american.edu on or before December 9, 2011.
INSTRUCTIONS
The questionnaire is to assist us all to contribute background materials and information for the launch meeting of the Global Expert Network on Copyright Limitations & Exceptions in National Law Reform, to take place December 18-20 in Amsterdam.
In completing this questionnaire, we encourage you to give very short answers (maximum 250 words) to each question. Please feel free to include hyperlinks or other references to background materials (e.g. copies of laws, analytical articles, etc.). We are particularly interested in any articles or other sources comparing limitations and exceptions systems from various countries. You may also send copies or references to background materials directly to Mike Palmedo.
We will post your responses and all background materials we receive on a closed (password-protected) page on www.infojustice.org/copyright-flexibilities as we receive them, to be completed by Monday, December 12. We will also discuss some of the answers to these questions in a roundtable discussion at dinner on December 19.
QUESTIONS
1) Please provide a short (e.g. 250 word) description of your country or region’s copyright legal framework and current statutory provisions and judicial doctrines providing for copyright limitations and flexibilities. You may include a general categorization (e.g. – closed list only, list plus fair use, list plus fair dealing) as well as a description of any notable or novel aspects to the law (e.g. a flexible quotation right, any open-ended exceptions, provisions for equitable remuneration, etc.). Please include a copy or link to your law.
2) To help further indicate potential differences between legal systems in the countries under study, we are interested in very short indications (again, e.g. 250 words) of the rubrics under which the following cases might be analyzed in your country. Please don’t actually perform the analysis that a court would use.
- How might your copyright law apply to use of illustrative (rather than critical) excerpts from a copyrighted fiction film in a commercial documentary?
- How might your copyright law apply to digitization of a library’s special collection for the purpose of providing some level of online access to the general public?
- How might your copyright law apply to the following example of user-generated content that transforms a copyrighted work in a manner that is a spoof, but which lacks any criticism or comment on the copyrighted work itself: bit.ly/jrLT9h (Guitar Baby). As to each, please indicate:
- Whether there is an existing legal provision under which it is clear that these cases would be analyzed, and (if not)
- Whether a court in your country might extend an existing limitation by analogy and/or analyze the issue by reference to some doctrine external to copyright?
You also are welcome to briefly indicate whether these might be easier or harder cases under your existing law and provide any reference to relevant decided cases.
3) Please provide a short (e.g. 250 words) description of the current political context around copyright law in your country. Please indicate, where relevant, whether any reform has been planned, the timeline for reform proposals, a description of any current or potential proposals or campaigns for expanding limitations and exceptions and any use cases that are prominent in the political conversation.