(Available episodes so far here)
If the international copyright acquis does not prevent parties to the Berne Union, the WCT or TRIPS from entering into special agreements mandating three-step test compliant copyright limitations, it should also be noted that the international copyright framework does very little to promote in any significant way counter-weighting initiatives to the dominant minimum rights approach.
(To be continued)
If the international copyright acquis does not prevent parties to the Berne Union, the WCT or TRIPS from entering into special agreements mandating three-step test compliant copyright limitations, it should also be noted that the international copyright framework does very little to promote in any significant way counter-weighting initiatives to the dominant minimum rights approach.
Quite on the contrary, the protection gap between the rights granted to authors and the interests of the general public has not stopped widening, especially since copyright and other intellectual property rights have gained increasing importance and bargaining weight at the numerous tables where international trade issues are negotiated. Admittedly, non-economic interests such as providing improved access to works for the benefit of the vulnerable societal group of print disabled persons are not likely to attract much consideration in the various international fora dominated by trade and economic interests.
As mentioned above, the direct beneficiaries of the previously adopted multilateral copyright conventions were foreign authors and right holders who qualified for protection under the rules of the applicable binding agreements, mirroring the combined national treatment plus minimum rights-approach. After more than one hundred years of international norm setting in the field of copyright, the time was certainly ripe to start regulating also the previously neglected space of limitations and exceptions. With the adoption of the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty, five years since the first appearance of the topic of protection maxima ("ceilings") on the agenda of the SCCR, the competing and still quite controversial user-focused approach in copyright law is now solidly anchored on the international level.
At the origin of the Marrakesh Treaty is the consensus of the international community regarding the importance of the public interest at stake, i.e “facilitating access to and use of works by persons with visual impairments or with other print disabilities.” The consensus reached captures one of the possible ways of balancing that specific public interest with the countervailing objective of copyright protection. Within the limits of the balancing concretely achieved, it reflects a globally shared value system.
As mentioned above, the direct beneficiaries of the previously adopted multilateral copyright conventions were foreign authors and right holders who qualified for protection under the rules of the applicable binding agreements, mirroring the combined national treatment plus minimum rights-approach. After more than one hundred years of international norm setting in the field of copyright, the time was certainly ripe to start regulating also the previously neglected space of limitations and exceptions. With the adoption of the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty, five years since the first appearance of the topic of protection maxima ("ceilings") on the agenda of the SCCR, the competing and still quite controversial user-focused approach in copyright law is now solidly anchored on the international level.
At the origin of the Marrakesh Treaty is the consensus of the international community regarding the importance of the public interest at stake, i.e “facilitating access to and use of works by persons with visual impairments or with other print disabilities.” The consensus reached captures one of the possible ways of balancing that specific public interest with the countervailing objective of copyright protection. Within the limits of the balancing concretely achieved, it reflects a globally shared value system.
(To be continued)
