2.
Specific observations and conclusions in the report
2.1
COPYRIGHT AS A STIMULUS TO CREATION
CIPR
View “In the long term, stronger copyright protection may help
to stimulate local cultural industries in developing countries…but
in the short to medium term it is likely to reduce the ability of
developing countries and poor people to close the gap by getting the
textbooks …they need at affordable cost.” (Ch5.p99)
The report
does acknowledge that “the availability of copyright may be
a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the development of
viable domestic (publishing) industries …in developing countries.”
Also that in larger developing countries copyright protection is “clearly
of considerable importance “ to national publishing industries.
However the CIPR takes the view that “it is hard not to conclude
from looking at the evidence …that the negative impacts of stronger
copyright protection are likely to be more immediate and significant
for the majority of the world’s poor”.
Almost the only evidence produced to support this statement concerns
the role of Collecting Societies and cites the South Africa DALRO
to suggest that such organisations serve chiefly to remit monies to
foreign publishers.
Mr Carlo Scollo Lavizzari, Legal Counsel for the International Publishers
Association, after consulting Brian Wafawarowa and Lindelwe Mabandla
of Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA) and Monica Segbert
of PASA/DALRO, has identified the Collecting Society issue as an example
of how the Commission has been selective in the evidence it has chosen
to present.
CIPR mentions that the South African Society DALRO distributes US$74,000
to local rights holders and US$137,000 to foreign rights holders but
omits to mention that the society’s licence does not require
payment of any fees on the copying of domestic primary or secondary
school material, material which is heavily copied.
2.2
COPYRIGHT-BASED INDUSTRIES AND COPYING OF PROTECTED WORKS
CIPR
Conclusion: Publishers and software producers should review their
pricing policies to help reduce unauthorised copying and to facilitate
access to their products in developing countries (Ch.5 p.102).
The
report recognises the value of voluntary initiatives
and specifically mentions free on-line access to academic journals
(the HINARI project) as a good example. However, without providing
any supporting evidence the report concludes that “there must
be scope for the use of more differential pricing in developing countries
that would be revenue producing or even revenue enhancing for producing
industries”.
The
PA believes that this is not the case with textbook
pricing in developing countries. In many African countries photocopying
equipment is not readily available, but where it is (in South Africa
for instance), though publishers price their college textbooks very
keenly, they are still copied in fast quantities. The report appears
to assume that only international publishers are encountering this
problem, but indigenous publishers are similarly affected and equally
unable to price their products at levels that will prevent photocopying.
It is also significant that wealthier South African students also
regularly use photocopied material.
Nonetheless
it is certainly true that the buying power of students in many African
countries is so low that only donor funding can bridge the gap between
the lowest price a publisher can set and the highest price a student
can afford.
Differential pricing in the internet age. It should
also be noted that at a time when well resourced librarians can identify
the lowest price editions and source books from virtually any country,
differential pricing can have unfortunate consequences, with very
low price editions intended for the poorest markets, being sold into
more affluent markets.
The
report further acknowledges that copyright holders are
entitled to an appropriate return on their investment “just
as other industries” but asserts that “from the wider
public policy perspective, ultimately it is just as important to ensure
that people in developing countries have better access to knowledge,
as it is to ensure that they have access to other essential inputs
for development such as food, water and medicines”.
The PA welcomes this view which we have ourselves
asserted on many occasions, but which has not always been reflected
in Government policy.
The
PA suggests that if the Government wishes to address the
problem of college textbook pricing in the poorest African states,
it should consider sustained support to the recently launched BookPower
scheme. BookPower, a registered charity, is a book industry initiative
which enables the purchase of key college textbooks by African students
at between one third and one fifth of their normal published price.
2.3 COPYRIGHT AND ACCESS
CIPR
conclusion: “In order to improve access, developing
countries should be allowed to maintain or adopt broad exemptions
for educational, research and library uses in their national copyright
laws. The implementation of international copyright standards should
be undertaken with this consideration to access in mind.”
PA
response: There is no evidence that existing ‘fair
use’ provisions are inadequate and further extension would be
extremely damaging to the interests of indigenous publishers in developing
countries, quite apart from the unwarranted damage to the legitimate
interests of developed country publishers.
2.4 DELIVERING THE POTENTIAL OF THE INTERNET FOR DEVELOPMENT
CIPR
conclusion (Ch5 p109). This paragraph contains a number of statements
which the PA disputes:
2.4.1.
"Users of information available on the Internet in the developing
nations should be entitled to "fair use" rights, such as
making and distributing printed copies from electronic sources in
reasonable numbers for educational and research purposes, and using
reasonable excerpts in commentary and criticism”.
PA
response: Whilst
this may be defensible for small extracts or individual articles,
it could not be allowed to justify reproduction (e.g. scanning) of
entire books without immediately falling foul of the 3-step test in
Berne and TRIPS.
The second sentence is an attack on contract and licensing agreements,
which runs directly counter to UK and international law. It also conflicts
with the EU Copyright Directive (Article 6.4.4): … [earlier
provisions for beneficiaries of fair use exceptions] shall not apply
to works or other subject matter made available to the public on agreed
contractual terms ..."
2.4.2
“Where suppliers of digital information or software attempt
to restrict "fair use" rights, by contract provisions associated
with the distribution of digital material, the relevant contract provision
may be treated as void".
PA:
This attack on contract and licensing agreements runs directly counter
to UK and international law. It also conflicts with the EU Copyright
Directive (Article 6.4.4): “[earlier provisions for beneficiaries
of fair use exceptions] shall not apply to works or other subject
matter made available to the public on agreed contractual terms ...".
2.4.3
"Where the same restriction is attempted through technological
means, measures to defeat the technological means of protection in
such circumstances should not be regarded as illegal"
PA:
This
is totally unacceptable, and runs directly counter to existing UK
law (Section 296 of the 1988 Act and Articles 6 and 7 of the EU Copyright
Directive, specifically protecting technological protection measures
and digital rights management).
2.4.4
"Developing countries should think very carefully before joining
the WIPO Copyright Treaty ... or implementing legislation on the lines
of the DMCA or the Database Directive".
PA:
The UK is about to ratify the WIPO Copyright Treaty, and is already
bound by the EU Database Directive. The CIPR has, earlier in this
chapter, accepted that the publishing industries of developing countries
do need the protection of copyright to develop. How are they expected
to do so without accession to these international IP standards?