On Tuesday, 29 April 2014, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) will convene a panel at WIPO headquarters entitled, The Tunis Model Law on Copyright for Developing Countries: Is it Time for an Update?
As WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) considers different pathways to develop “appropriate legal instrument or instruments” on limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives and educational and research institutions and persons with other disabilities, we would draw the Committee’s attention to an initiative jointly convened in 1976 by UNESCO and WIPO – the Tunis Model Law on Copyright for Developing Countries.
Perhaps WIPO could undertake a scoping study to ascertain the feasibility of producing an update of the Tunis Model Law adapted for the digital environment. This 1976 model law, drafted by experts at the behest of member states of WIPO and UNESCO, sought to provide a Berne-consistent template for developing countries that could accommodate both the common law and civil law traditions.
The 1976 Tunis Model Law addressed a number of the most important issues in copyright, including issues such as the protection of folklore, and limitations and exceptions to rights, such as those in Section 7, entitled “Fair use,” Section 3 on “Works not protected,” or Section 10 on the limitation of the right of translation. The Model Law provided a foundation for the protection of author’s rights, including extensive provisions on licensing of works and enforcement of rights, and proposed language on the treatment of domaine public payant in Section 17.
While the 1976 Tunis Model Law was useful, much has happened in the last 37 years, and it seems appropriate to consider an update of this soft law instrument.
In considering possible revisions of the 1976 Model Law, we would recommend WIPO examine the areas where a model act would be particularly useful, including, for example, as regards the implementation of copyright limitations and exceptions that address the special concerns of developing countries, and which take into account new developments of international law, including the norms contained in the WTO TRIPS Agreement, the 1996 WIPO Internet treaties, and the Beijing and Marrakesh treaties.
Among other topics, there would be an opportunity to draft model provisions that would address copyright limitations and exceptions for education and research, including those institutions like libraries and archives that support education and research, distance education delivered cross border, access to orphaned copyrighted works, more timely exceptions for translation, and systems of liability rules to address a variety of concerns regard access to cultural works, consistent with addressing the legitimate interests of suppliers of knowledge and cultural works.
Title: The Tunis Model Law on Copyright for Developing Countries: Is it Time for an Update?
Where: Room B, World Intellectual Property Organization
Date: Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Time: 13:45 to 15:00Speakers
Teresa Hackett, Programme Manager, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL)
James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
Gudibende Ramarao Raghavender, Registrar and Director (Copyright) Administration and Coordination, Book Promotion, Copyright & ISBN, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India
Viviana Munoz Tellez, Manager, Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme, South Centre