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Amending Chinese Copyright Law to Fulfil Obligations under the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for the Print Disabled

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2019

Jingyi Li Open the ORCID record for Jingyi Li [Opens in a new window]  and
Niloufer Selvadurai
Jingyi Li*
Affiliation:
Law School, Shandong University; Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University.
Niloufer Selvadurai
Affiliation:
Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University. Email: niloufer.selvadurai@mq.edu.au.
*
Email: jingyi.li@mq.edu.au (corresponding author).
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Abstract

Chinese copyright laws have not yet given sufficient consideration to copyright exceptions or limitations to facilitate access to copyright works for persons with a print disability. Now that China has become a signatory party of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, it would be significant if China could amend its copyright laws so as to end the “book famine” for a huge population with a print disability. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of Chinese copyright exceptions for the print disabled and propose amendment options for China's copyright law to ensure compliance with its signatory obligations. To this end, the paper provides an overarching examination of China's copyright exception arrangements for the print disabled, identifies the gap between Chinese copyright laws and the Marrakesh Treaty, and analyses previous proposals on copyright law reform.

摘要

中国于 2013 年签订了《关于为盲人、视力障碍者或其他印刷品阅读障碍者获得已出版作品提供便利的马拉喀什条约》（《马拉喀什条约》），承诺规定著作权保护的限制和例外情况，允许相关组织和个人在未经著作权人授权的情况下，制作、发行和传播作品的盲文、有声图书、电子版及其他无障碍格式版供印刷品阅读障碍者使用。本文通过审视中国著作权法及相关法律、整理无障碍格式版作品的供给数据、分析限制著作权保护的具体案例，指出中国现行著作权保护的限制和例外适用范围狭窄，不能有效支持盲文出版社等相关机构制作、发行和传播作品的无障碍格式版。文章建议，应当以著作权法修改草案的公开讨论为契机，按照《马拉喀什条约》的基本要求，修改中国著作权法以及其他相关法律，扩大受益人范围，增加无障碍格式版的类型，明确定义合法制作无障碍格式版的机构，允许合法提供促进无障碍阅读的科技和服务，以促使中国批准《马拉喀什条约》，保障中国七千五百万视力障碍人士平等地获取著作权作品、参与文化生活和融入社会。

Keywords

Marrakesh Treatyprint disabilitycopyright exceptions and limitationsChinese copyright laws《马拉喀什条约》印刷品阅读障碍著作权法合理使用
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 240 , December 2019 , pp. 1066 - 1086
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2019 

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