Book Review Symposium The Right to Research in Africa Exploring the Copyright and Human Rights Interface (original) (raw)
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Report - “A Right to Research in Africa? A Week of Debates on Copyright and Access to Knowledge”
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A conference “A Right to Research in Africa? A Week of Debates on Copyright and Access to Knowledge” took place on 23-27 January 2023 at the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. The gathering of scholars, artists, librarians, researchers and government officials had the objective to discuss the evolution of copyright law and the role of limitations and exceptions (L&Es) to advance research in Africa. The week of debates was co-organized by the South Centre, ReCreate South Africa, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) – American University Washington College of Law, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), the University of Pretoria – Future Africa, the University of Cape Town – IP Unit, the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) – Strathmore University, Wikimedia Foundation and Masakhane.
African Copyright and Access to Knowledge - Chapter 10: Summary and conclusions
The purpose of this final book chapter is to look at the doctrinal and qualitative findings and the interconnections between our findings across the eight countries. The goal is to summarise findings, draw general conclusions, highlight lessons learned and point toward possible ways to build African copyright environments that better support education through access to learning materials and dissemination of knowledge.
Copyright and Education: Lessons on African Copyright and Access to Knowledge [AJIC 10 (2009/10) 37]
The African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) project is a pan-African research network of academics and researchers from law, economics and the information sciences, spanning Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Research conducted by the project was designed to investigate the extent to which copyright is fulfilling its objective of facilitating access to knowledge, and learning materials in particular, in the study countries. The hypotheses tested during the course of research were that: (a) the copyright environments in study countries are not maximising access to learning materials, and (b) the copyright environments in study countries can be changed to increase access to learning materials. The hypotheses were tested through both doctrinal legal analysis and qualitative interview-based analysis of practices and perceptions among relevant stakeholders. This paper is a comparative review of some of the key findings across the eight countries. An analysis of the legal research findings in the study countries indicates that national copyright laws in all eight ACA2K study countries provide strong protection, in many cases exceeding the terms of minimum protection demanded by international obligations. Copyright limitations and exceptions to facilitate access to learning materials are not utilised as effectively as they could be, particularly relating to the digital environment. Distance learning, the needs of disabled people, the needs of students, teachers, educational institutions, libraries and archives are inadequately addressed. To the extent that copyright laws address the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs), they do so primarily in a manner that further restricts access to learning materials. In summary, national copyright frameworks in the study countries are not geared for maximal access to learning materials, and are in need of urgent attention. An analysis of qualitative research findings, gathered from the field in stakeholder interviews, suggests that a substantial gap exists between copyright law and copyright practice in each country studied. Many users who are aware of the concept of copyright are unable or unwilling to comply with it or to work within the user rights it offers because of their socioeconomic circumstances. In everyday practice, with respect to learning materials, vast numbers of people act outside legal copyright structures altogether, engaging (knowingly or unknowingly) in infringing practices in order to gain the access they need to learning materials. In conclusion, evidence from the ACA2K project suggests that the copyright environments in the study countries can and must be improved by reforms that will render the copyright regimes more suitable to local developing country realities. Without such reform, equitable and non-infringing access to learning materials will remain an elusive goal in these countries.
2010
The African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) project is a pan-African research network of academics and researchers from law, economics and the information sciences, spanning Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Research conducted by the project was designed to investigate the extent to which copyright is fulfilling its objective of facilitating access to knowledge, and
8 - ‘Justice Be Our Shield and Defender’: An Intellectual Property Rights Regime for Africa*
Africa Development, 2010
Protecting intellectual property rights has become essential in encouraging cut- ting-edge scholarship that advances the frontiers of knowledge. For a long time, the majority of Africa’s intelligentsia has worked in local and international envi- ronments that have exploited the continent’s intellectual capital. Even in con- texts where intellectual property rights are enforced, certain constituencies re- main at high risk for exploitation. In this paper I use three case studies to argue for a more comprehensive conversation on this issue encompassing intellectu- als working in different contexts and with diverse agendas. The first of these involves the unequal power dynamics between individuals working in different kinds of institutions, in this particular case, complicated by the global North/ South divide. The second explores the dynamics of power in intellectual rela- tionships while the third deals with the challenges emanating from the develop- ment and use of endogenous episte...
New hope for Africa? Copyright and Access to Knowledge in the Digital Age [(2011) 13(3) Info 64 -74]
For African countries, accessing knowledge material is crucial to unlock sustainable development. While information and communication technologies (ICTs) facilitate access to such material, an access-enabling national copyright regime is equally important: Applied wisely, copyright law has the potential to promote learning through ICTs, but applied too strictly, copyright law has the potential to restrict access to knowledge. Digital technologies and the Internet have intensified copyright disputes because copyright infringement is a greater threat in the digital age than it was before. At the same time, digital technologies allow for the lock-up of copyright-protected material by way of technological protection measures (TPMs), regardless of established copyright balancing tools that strive to reconcile rights holders interests and public interests. Copyright exceptions and limitations are the most important legislative balancing tool that can be severely affected by TPMs. This paper discusses the three main approaches countries around the world have taken towards copyright exceptions and limitations. After examining the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches, it suggests a preferred model for developing countries. It then addresses the problematic interplay between copyright exceptions and limitations on the one hand and TPMs on the other. The paper concludes by offering a solution for mitigating the potentially detrimental impact of TPMs on otherwise-permitted uses of copyright-protected knowledge materials.