Every review of developments in copyright and licensing around the world in the past decade has had to include some consideration of South Africa. This one is no exception. The country’s National Assembly recently passed the highly controversial Copyright Amendment Bill that creator groups, both inside South Africa and internationally, have long considered hostile to the interests of publishers and the wider creative industries. The Bill has now moved to the President for his approval. If that sounds familiar, it should. That’s what happened in 2020 when President Ramaphosa previously blocked the legislation, citing concerns about whether some of its provisions were unconstitutional. We now must wait and see what happens on this occasion. Groups representing the interests of rightsholders, such as IFRRO, are urging him to reject it once again, warning that “the bill will harm South Africa’s creative community, devalue creators’ works and be out of step with international best practice.”
On February 27th, a decision from the Federal Court of Canada required collective licensing organization Access Copyright to return to the plaintiffs in that case (the Ontario school boards and Ministries of Education, excluding British Columbia and Quebec) what the Court considered to be overpaid license fees from the 2010-2012 period. Access Copyright has called this “an extremely disappointing decision” that “reinforces the urgent need for the federal government to repair Canada’s broken copyright regime,” a reform that “is long overdue.”
It continues to be a busy time for copyright matters in the European Union. At the beginning of February and following “trialogue” discussions and a political agreement in December 2023, the 27 EU member states unanimously approved the AI Act, “the world’s first comprehensive rulebook for Artificial Intelligence.” The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU presented the final version with an analysis of the compromise text. Some member states had expressed reservations ahead of the vote, so more than 200 organizations in Europe’s creative and cultural sectors, including IFRRO, had issued a statement calling for approval of the AI Act. As for the Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM) Directive, 26 member states have now transposed the Directive (all except Poland) into national legislation. Organizations such as IFRRO continue to monitor and report on implementation of the Directive.
Staying in the EU, the European Commission has launched two important studies relating to copyright. The first is a study on copyright in distance education and research. In November 2023, the EC launched a Study on copyright in distance education and research: exploring the role of copyright in facilitating access to digital collections of libraries and other public interest institutions. One of CCC’s board members, Tarja Koskinen-Olsson is an author of this study. While the EC has said it isn’t considering legislative action at present, there is concern about what the next Commission might do.
The second study is on the effects of the EU copyright framework on research. The EC has launched a study to evaluate the effects of the EU copyright framework on research and the effects of potential interventions and to identify and present relevant provisions for research in EU data and digital legislation, with a focus on rights and obligations. The study will contribute to the implementation of the new European Research Area (ERA). ERA’s 2022-24 Policy Agenda includes an action aiming to “Propose an EU copyright and data legislative and regulatory framework fit for research.”
Finally, in the United Kingdom the House of Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee published a paper on February 2nd on ‘Large language models and generative AI.’ The report documented the findings of an inquiry which considered evidence on the likely development of LLMs over the next three years and recommended a series of actions. There was a significant emphasis on copyright. The report expressed ‘deeper concerns about the Government’s commitment to fair play around copyright’ and made a series of specific recommendations to the UK government to address those concerns. The report included a powerful endorsement of the role played by copyright. “LLMs may offer immense value to society. But that does not warrant the violation of copyright law or its underpinning principles. We do not believe it is fair for tech firms to use rightsholder data for commercial purposes without permission or compensation, and to gain vast financial rewards in the process. There is compelling evidence that the UK benefits economically, politically, and societally from upholding a globally respected copyright regime.”