The African Copyright and Access to Knowledge Project

African countries are pressured to reform their intellectual property legislations and more importantly, to enforce these laws. The implications on access to knowledge could be very important. The five study countries included in this project were chosen to provide the researchers with a range of country contexts. Egypt is a leading centre of learning and learning materials in North Africa and in the Arab world. The Egyptian government is very active in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) development agenda and has been a strong proponent of maximum use of available intellectual property limitations and exceptions for development purposes. In Ghana, the government has recently tightened the country’s copyright rules. This new environment should allow the research team to better understand the implications of these policies on students, librarians and others. Senegal is currently in the process of reforming the country’s intellectual property law. Copyright policy in South Africa has been very controversial over the past few years. The government has tried to reform the country’s Intellectual Property Rights Bill on two occasions and abandoned the project due to significant opposition. South Africa is very active in the African Group of the WIPO Friends of Development grouping of nations. Uganda will also offer important contextual information. The country has amended its copyright law in recent years in a manner that has not taken full advantage of the available exceptions and limitations.

View full text ››    Print     Email     Comment     Add content

Contributor: Cally Robyn Wolk
Published Date: April 28, 2008