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Copyrighting is the only form of intellectual property rights (IPR) where a property right exists from the moment the work comes into being, without any registration process required by the author. Copyright protection for educational material is becoming more and more stringent, with significant ramifications for education systems in the developing world. This is because many developing countries often still depend on print material as their main educational resources. As access to print material becomes more and more restricted, the ‘knowledge gap’ between the rich and the poor around the world grows. Nowhere is this more evident than in Asia, where the divide between those who can afford access to information and those who cannot is painfully obvious. The demand for cheaper access to knowledge is so great that markets abound with pirated copies of educational materials (seen in picture at right of a market in Central Jakarta, Indonesia). In today's ‘Information Society,’ lack of access to knowledge can be crippling. Yet, virtually no research has been done in Asia on the impact of copyrights on access to knowledge.

 

This project examines the impact of copyright on access to knowledge in both print and digital educational materials. In its initial six months, the project team has completed background research and case studies on the limitations and exceptions to copyright instruments of 11 developing countries in the Asia Pacific region. This was done to determine the extent to which these limitations and exceptions are incorporated in national copyright legislation. This research allows the research team to get a broad overview of copyright policies and practices in the region before delving into more extensive research in two target countries, Indonesia and Thailand.

 

Field research in Indonesia and Thailand covers four main areas: research; monitoring and information sharing; capacity building and training; and advocacy. Researchers will examine the copyright law provisions, bilateral trade agreements as they relate to copyright laws, policies and practices on pricing of educational material, the impact of publishing companies on access to knowledge, the impact of government policies and regulatory framework on access to knowledge, and copyright issues surrounding the proliferation of digital content. The information gathered in this study is expected to feed into the long-term goal of fair public access to educational resources in developing countries.

 

To produce evidence-based policy positions by conducting research on the impact of copyright on access to knowledge (in both its non-digital and digital form); to use the research results to create greater awareness of access to knowledge issues among civil society (and consumer groups in particular); and to develop capacity of those groups to advocate for reforms in national and regional policies (including bilateral and multilateral trade agreements) as they relate to access to knowledge. More specifically, the project aims to:

Development Impact

The research team has completed the background research, synthesized the findings, and developed a well-received report and book outlining how national lawmakers in developing countries are using international copyright legislation in practice. The report finds that all 11 countries, including China, India and Malaysia, have given copyright owners far more protection than the intellectual property treaties they have signed up to require. As such, copyrighted educational materials in these countries are expensive and consumers are being priced out of access to knowledge. Imported books are prohibitively priced. When considered in terms of GDP for instance, selling students a book at US $27 in Indonesia is equivalent to selling it to students in the US at US$1,048 (for more detailed information, please download the report below).  Consumers International (CI) has presented their research findings via a press release (please see below) to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization).

 

* All terms are drawn from the OECD Macrothesaurus 1998.