Exception in favour of the blind and visually impaired
Last week, the Government of Slovenia approved the new Proposal of the Act on the Changes and Amendments of the Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP), that is currently under discussion in the Parliament. The Amending Act transposes the Directive 2017/1564 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2017 on certain permitted uses of certain works and other subject matter protected by copyright and related rights for the benefit of persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled, that was to be transposed already in October 2018.
Novelties for the blind, the visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled (beneficiary persons):
– An exception in favour of people with disabilities (Article 48.a ZASP) now explicitly mentions also beneficiary persons and broadens the scope of permitted actions that do not require the authorization of the author: reproduction, including necessary non-substantive adjustments, distribution and communication to the public (which is broader than the public recitation) of the published works. The right of transformation that would permit also substantial modifications is not envisaged as some stakeholders have proposed. Also the condition that “work used is not available in the desired form” has been deleted and this will facilitate the exception in favour of people with disabilities.
– The exchange and dissemination of works in accessible formats on the internal market will be taken care of by authorized entities which will have some obligations. Amongst others, those entities will have to prevent violations and in order to do that they will be to require that the persons with disabilities formally prove their disability. In line with the proposal, the exchange of works in accessible form is not permitted between beneficiary persons.
– The terms beneficiary persons, works for beneficiary persons, work in accessible format and authorized entity are defined similarly as in the Directive 2017/1564.
Also, there have been some minor changes in relation to offenses (the fines are now in euros, fixed in range, sole proprietors can also be fined, etc.).
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).