Update on SA Copyright Amendment Bill

Legislation: Reworked Copyright Bill nears completion

Publish date: 11 October 2017; Issue Number: 4324

Source: Legalbrief Today

As work on redrafting the Copyright Amendment Bill gathers momentum, ‘more and more questions’ are surfacing according to parliamentary legal adviser Charmaine van der Merwe – who has nevertheless confirmed that ‘no policy changes’ have been made, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. Where a policy decision is required, the provisions concerned have been flagged in a version of the Bill Van der Merwe believes will rectify all technical errors, inconsistencies and repetitive clauses identified during May’s public hearings. Only then will matters of policy be tackled by the National Assembly’s Trade and Industry Committee.

Briefing committee members yesterday, Van der Merwe said that – while certain ‘phrases’ still need to be clarified – she is confident that the Bill’s ‘B’ version will make the Act far easier to understand from a technical perspective, once the amendments envisaged have been promulgated and incorporated. Although no timeframe was given for the completion of the reworked Bill and no discussion took place, committee chair Joan Fubbs expressed hope that the remainder of the drafting process will not take ‘too much longer’.

 

SA Copyright Amendment Bill and various comments, etc.

http://libguides.wits.ac.za/Copyright_and_Related_Issues/SA_Copyright_Amendment_Bill_2017

Other Copyright Resources

http://libguides.wits.ac.za/Copyright_and_Related_Issues

 

Intellectual Property:

Library trolls copyright zealots by naming collection after Sonny Bono - Little-known copyright provision allows reproduction of full book texts (USA).

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/internet-archive-puts-full-out-of-print-books-from-20s-and-30s-online/

EU Parliament-Commissioned Study Pans Proposed Publishers’ Right

http://www.project-disco.org/intellectual-property/101017-eu-parliament-commissioned-study-pans-proposed-publishers-right/#.Wd8zxI-CzIV

Intellectual Property Metro (EU) (can download)

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/design-definition

Publishers take ResearchGate to court, alleging massive copyright infringement

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/10/publishers-take-researchgate-court-alleging-massive-copyright-infringement

Are the Papers Behind This Year’s Nobel Prizes in the Public Domain?

https://thewire.in/184754/nobel-prize-chemistry-physics-medicine-journal-open-access-cryo-electron-microscopy/

Correa: Academics Disagree with Assumptions about IP, Innovation and Development

https://www.ip-watch.org/2017/10/09/correa-academics-disagree-assumptions-ip-innovation-development/