The global voice for consumers La voix des Consommateurs à travers le monde La voz global para la defensa de los consumidores

Consumers International Study on Copyright and Access to Knowledge Rajeswari Kanniah Head Consumers International Kuala Lumpur

CI Study Studied copyright laws of 11 developing countries in Asia – Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Thailand. “Flexibilities”-works, rights, duration, limitations and exceptions. All the countries did not take advantage of all the “flexibilities” permitted in the international copyright treaties they signed and in fact provided copyright owners more rights than they needed to.

Case Studies – Indonesia & Thailand Copyright does play a role in determining access to knowledge. Monopoly created results in: High price of imported books Licences for translation difficult and expensive to obtain Flexibilities not used e.g. compulsory licensing and parallel import

Case Studies – Indonesia & Thailand Retail cost of Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics: Indonesia - US$ Thailand - US$ US - US$ However, in terms of cost (% of GDP per capita) and price in the US (GDP equivalent) and PPP: Indonesia % : US - US$ 3,171; US$ 913 Thailand % : US - US$ 1,065; US$ 323

Case Study – Indonesia Other factors contributing to lack of access to knowledge: Indonesia – 52% live on less than US$2 a day; signed Berne Convention, TRIPS and WIPO Copyright Treaty. Primary school textbooks replaced every year Corruption in supply of school textbooks increases prices 10% VAT on textbooks except those in the local language 10% VAT on all materials used in publishing Library budgets insufficient University students unable to buy textbooks, resort to photocopying Lack of access to the internet – only 7% connectivity.

Case Studies – Indonesia and Thailand Photocopying-large scale, whole book, low cost: -university students -lecturers (course packs including articles, texts from different books) and imported textbooks -university libraries-purchase one copy and photocopy more copies; lend original, photocopy for research in library

Case Study – Indonesia Book “piracy” and unauthorised translations. Sistem Akuntasi (Accounting System) by Mulyadi, Universitas Gadjah Mada, published by Penerbit Salemba Empat: TypesPrice USD Original (big bookstore) Original ‘Koran’ (big bookstore) 9.49 Original (small bookstore) 8.00 “Pirated” 2.50 Photocopy of whole book 6.47

Case Study - Thailand Thailand - signed Berne Convention and TRIPs. Prices of English language university textbooks high Libraries lack budget to stock English language textbooks and journals 7% VAT imposed on all materials used for publishing 20% tax on all imported CD ROMs

Case Study - Thailand Is photocopying fair use? Supreme Court: Student copying for education and research, not for profit, deemed not to infringe copyright; Exception extends to photocopy shop owner as long as can prove that done on behalf of student under a hire-for-work contract; Photocopy shop can charge for paper and use of machine, this is not profit; Quantity and amount of work allowed to be photocopied depends on each case-court should take into account need for development. To have a rule that limits the quantity of work that can be duplicated would result in “non-understanding” of the thoughts and philosophy in the book”.

CI Study on Copyright and Access to Knowledge All materials in the study available on the project website: