Exception in favour of the blind and visually impaired
Last week, the Government of Slovenia approved the new Proposal of the Act on the Changes and Amendments of the Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP), that is currently under discussion in the Parliament. The Amending Act transposes the Directive 2017/1564 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2017 on certain permitted uses of certain works and other subject matter protected by copyright and related rights for the benefit of persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled, that was to be transposed already in October 2018.
Novelties for the blind, the visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled (beneficiary persons):
– An exception in favour of people with disabilities (Article 48.a ZASP) now explicitly mentions also beneficiary persons and broadens the scope of permitted actions that do not require the authorization of the author: reproduction, including necessary non-substantive adjustments, distribution and communication to the public (which is broader than the public recitation) of the published works. The right of transformation that would permit also substantial modifications is not envisaged as some stakeholders have proposed. Also the condition that “work used is not available in the desired form” has been deleted and this will facilitate the exception in favour of people with disabilities.
– The exchange and dissemination of works in accessible formats on the internal market will be taken care of by authorized entities which will have some obligations. Amongst others, those entities will have to prevent violations and in order to do that they will be to require that the persons with disabilities formally prove their disability. In line with the proposal, the exchange of works in accessible form is not permitted between beneficiary persons.
– The terms beneficiary persons, works for beneficiary persons, work in accessible format and authorized entity are defined similarly as in the Directive 2017/1564.
Also, there have been some minor changes in relation to offenses (the fines are now in euros, fixed in range, sole proprietors can also be fined, etc.).
The Grand Board of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) finally ruled that the figurative sign ‘COVIDIOT’ cannot be registered as an EU trademark.
The 4th Open Knowledge Day took place on Tuesday 17 October 2023, with an accompanying workshop on 18 October 2023. This year it was organised by the Open Data and Intellectual Property Institute (ODIPI) and supported by Knowledge Rights 21 (KR21).
We invite you to the fourth Open Knowledge Day and the workshop, which will take place this year within the framework of the programme and with the support of Knowledge Rights 21. The event will bring together experts from different European countries to discuss two topics: the first part will deal with the legal basis for data analytics, which is a key part of machine learning and related artificial intelligence, and the general exception for research. In the second part, open science in theory and practice will be presented both in Slovenia and in some Western Balkan countries. Representatives of research and educational institutions from Slovenia and the Western Balkan countries, as well as interested members of the public, are invited to attend.
Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič, a renowned expert in copyright law, has joined the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where she will serve as an affiliate researcher for the next two years.