Access to Educational Materials in Africa

Workshop on “The International Copyright System and Access to Education: Challenges, New Access Models and

Prospects for New Principles Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and

Competition Law, Munich 14 – 15 May 2012

Structure of presentation

1. Introduction

2. State of Access to educational materials in Africa (SSA)

3. State of Educational L&Es

4. Some thoughts on an international instrument on L&Es for education

5. Some suggestions on the way forward

2. State of Access

• Very limited use of ITCs

• Very low internet connectivity

• Mainly depend of material in analogue forms

• e-resources another source

• Largely depend on imported books

• Educational/learning material very expensive

State of Access

• Very limited to no government expenditure

• Educational institutions/libraries have constrained budgets

• Basically access through informal economy – widespread photocopying

– Illegal

– Widespread copyright infringement

State of Access

– But only mechanism for bulk access

• Need a lot of freedom to copy and/or translate

• Calls for broad L&Es

3. State of L&Es in Africa

• Not been used, instead

• Strong provisions for protection in legislation

– Absent, vague or narrowly crafted

– But also “doing it own way”

• IP enforcement picking up

– Very strong enforcement with no regard to development needs

State of L&Es

– Failure of courts to devise-case-by-case educational/public interest exceptions

– Need to equip law enforcement organs with capacity to balance competing interests

4. Considerations for an International Instrument on L&Es for education

• Minimum mandatory L&Es

– Different categories of users

– National legislation and best practices

– Balanced IP system

• History lessons and cautionary notes

– Comprehensive copyright reform treaty?

– Adapt to Africa realities

5. Some Suggestions on the Way Forward

• Compulsory licensing for various reasons including development purposes

• General exception eg public interest or national security

• Oblige TPM owners to provide access to educational uses

Some Suggestions on the Way Forward

• Allow parallel importation

• Provide compensation for commercial uses or CL

Way Forward: Next steps

• Craft clear minimum L&Es

• Clear guidance on L&Es to educational and research institutions

• Sensitization on copyright and development

• training law enforcement organs

Thank You

Susan Isiko Strba