Limitations on Copyright

A) Temporal Limitation
- Copyright Protection is time bound
- It begins with the creation of the work and continues until some time after the death of the author in order to
enable the author’s successors to have economic benefits after the author’s death
- International standard: Life of the author + 50 years
B) Geographic Limitation
- The owner of a copyrighted work is protected by the law of a country against acts restricted by copyright law
which are done in that county
- For protection against acts done in another country , he must refer to the law of that country
- Membership of both countries in international copyright conventions helps settle practical problems arising
from geographic limitation
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Exceptions to Copyright
A) Exclusions from copyright protection :
Ideas, procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts as such
News of the day
Works that are not fixed in material form
The text of laws and decisions of courts and administrative bodies
Non-original databases
B) “Fair use”
- Certain acts may, in circumstances specified in the law, be done without the authorization of the copyright
owner
- Examples:
* reproduction of a work exclusively for the personal and private use
* making quotations from a protected work (provided that the source of the quotation is mentioned and that
the extent of the quotation is compatible with fair practice)
C) Public communication when the use is justified by an informatory purpose
- The laws of some countries permit the broadcasting of protected works without authorization provided that
fair remuneration is provided to owner of the copyright
D) Compulsory License
- The Paris Appendix (1971) of the Bern Convention permits developing countries to issue compulsory
licenses for the reproduction of copyrighted material “for use in relation to certain systematic instructional
activities” and for the translation of copyrighted material into a language of general use in the authorizing
country
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E and L in International Conventions
Article 13 of TRIPS/ Article 9 (2) of Berne
 “Members shall confine limitations or exceptions to exclusive rights to certain special cases which do not
conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the
right holder”
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Three Step Test
1) Members shall confine limitations or exceptions to exclusive rights to certain special cases

- Copies made for the purposes of scholarly and private use

- Media uses for currents events or news of the day
- Uses in educational institutions, including for teaching
- Teaching
- Quotation
2) which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work
- Exceptions are limited to non-commercial uses
- Copies made for this purpose will not be sold in the market
3) and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder
- An exception which caused “unreasonable loss” would prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder
- Need of case by case analysis
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WIPO Copyright Treaty
Extends E and L into the Digital Environment
According to Article 11, Contracting Parties must provide “adequate legal protection and effective legal
remedies against the circumvention of effective technological measures that are used by authors in connection
with the exercise of their rights”