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Proposed copyright law to improve court access and create new exemptions

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Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell-O'Connor
Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell-O’Connor

Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell-O’Connor is drafting legislation to improve access to the courts for lower value intellectual property (IP) infringement cases and create copyright exemptions to service the needs of disabled people.

The Copyright and Related Rights (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016 is being drafted in response to the 2013 Modernising Copyright report compiled by the independent Copyright Review Committee appointed in 2011.

The bill seeks to strike a balance with greater societal needs in the context of education, advancing research or to facilitate access to works for persons with a disability.

The Department of Jobs said the proposals are focussed on:

  • Improving access to the Courts system for intellectual property claims, in particular to facilitate lower value IP infringement cases to be brought before the District and Circuit courts;

  • Extending existing copyright exceptions to promote non-commercial research including the introduction of a Text and Data Mining copyright exception into Irish law;

  • Extending existing copyright deposit provisions relating to books to facilitate the creation of a Digital Deposit on a voluntary basis;

  • Creating an exception for use of copyright works to allow for caricature, satire and parody;

  • Extending the concept of fair dealing in copyright works for purposes of news reporting;

  • Making it an infringement, in the context of photographs, to tamper with metadata associated with the photographic works; and

  • Allowing libraries, archives and educational institutions to make a copy of a work in its collection for preservation purposes and for catalogues for exhibitions etc.

    • The proposed law will, for instance, allow an individual to make a personal copy of a work modified to meet their special needs.

    Moreover, designated bodies such as the National Council for the Blind will be able to make multiple copies of a work to meet the specific needs of persons with a disability and to share these with other designated bodies as well as directly to individuals.

    The bill proposes a provision that introduces an anticipatory duty on publishers to make suitable copies of the work available to designated bodies on request. This will facilitate these bodies to make suitable modified copies available for persons with a disability.

    Ms Mitchell-O’Connor said the changes “reflect the need to create a more equitable society so that all persons can equally enjoy and partake in the delight of reading their preferred books of fact or fiction”.

    She also said the law would help pave the way for Ireland’s ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled.

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