Ensure fundamental rights by limiting copyright
Yesterday, Communia published a new Policy Paper on fundamental rights as a limit to copyright during emergencies.
The document presents a response to the state of emergency brought by COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly disrupted society organisation across the EU. The author, Teresa Nobre, presented her view on how the fundamental rights can provide legal basis for limitation of copyright in these extreme times.
Copyright exceptions and limitations should support education, research and other activities in the public interest, which should be exercised remotely in cases of emergency, when normal society organisation is disrupted. It cannot be said that current national copyright legislation which does not allow for temporary adaptation to the new reality that was introduced with COVID-19 pandemic appropriately incorporates fundamental rights contained in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In such cases, the rights to freedom of information, freedom of science and education should be respected in order to enable limitation to exclusive copyright. Copyright limitations should be broad enough to provide security for activities equivalent to those carried out on the premises of educational establishments, research organizations and cultural heritage institutions during periods when the physical premises of those institutions are being forced into closure.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (hereinafter SCCR) made substantial progress on the issues advocated by the A2K Coalition (Access to Knowledge Coalition), which IPI is a member of. This year’s session was the most productive on the issues of exceptions and limitations. James Love (Knowledge Ecology International), a long-time observer at WIPO, described the outcome and the impact of the public interest community as the strongest since the conclusion of the Marrakech Treaty, which brought global copyright exceptions for the benefit of the blind and visually impaired.
Today, March 17, 2023, a symposium on law in the information society is taking place in the golden lecture hall of the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič will present copyright aspects of artificial intelligence at the symposium.
The third day of the 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is intended for discussion on the topic of exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in connection with the right to research.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/43) is being held in Geneva from March 13 to 17, 2023. The Intellectual Property Institute has a permanent observer status at WIPO since 2022 and is also a member of the Access to Knowledge Coalition (A2K coalition).