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Oyewunmi, Adejoke --- "The Education Sector and Copyright Issues in the Digital Age: A Perspective from Africa" [2012] ELECD 206; in Rosén, Jan (ed), "Individualism and Collectiveness in Intellectual Property Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Individualism and Collectiveness in Intellectual Property Law

Editor(s): Rosén, Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857938978

Section: Chapter 15

Section Title: The Education Sector and Copyright Issues in the Digital Age: A Perspective from Africa

Author(s): Oyewunmi, Adejoke

Number of pages: 27

Extract:

15. The education sector and
copyright issues in the digital age: a
perspective from Africa*
Adejoke Oyewunmi

1. INTRODUCTION

The impact of digital technology, particularly the Internet on copyright,
has attracted the attention of stakeholders in the copyright sector for
well over a decade now. Whether this technology is perceived as a threat
to protection or welcomed as an opportunity for access depends largely
on the position of the stakeholder concerned, whether creator/copyright
owner, or user, and the interest which is sought to be advanced.
Whatever the case may be, it is trite that intellectual property laws,
including those relating to copyright, endeavour to balance two funda-
mental, though seemingly competing interests. The first is the securing
of private interests, through the protection of ownership and investment
rights in eligible copyright works, while the second is the protection of
public interest to access these works. These underlying interests and the
need for balance are both accorded recognition in international human
rights instruments which, while acknowledging the right of everyone to
take part in the cultural life and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress
and its applications, equally provide that everyone has a right to the
moral and material interest resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic
production of which he is the author.1


* Adejoke O. Oyewunmi, LL.B. (Ife), LL.M. (Lagos), LL.M.I.P.
(PiercelawUSA), Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, former
Visiting Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition
and Tax ...