As part of the Ford Foundation funded project Local Contexts, Global Commons, a trio of intrepid academics immersed themselves in the local copyright acts of their countries, to compile a copyright review that encompasses the current status of copyright in Brazil, India and South Africa. As three pivotal developing nations, it was important to see what the impact has been on areas such as education, culture, traditional knowledge, research and access to knowledge.

The report, which has been compiled by The African Commons Project in partnership with The Alternative Law Forum (ALF) in India, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) in Brazil, and UK-based charity iCommons, contextualises the respective copyright regimes by outlining the particular influences and history of copyright as experienced within each country. Of particular interest is the status of each country in terms of a copyright review process: India, having undergone a review previously, Brazil currently going through a government-led copyright review process that is inclusive of various stakeholders, and South Africa, which is yet to go through an official review, but has had an independent review led by Andrew Rens, Fellow at The Shuttleworth Foundation.

The report highlights the need for copyright reform, and also shows the controversial aspect of copyright which includes a push-pull between public interests and private rights (corporations and culture producers who fight to increase their stake in intellectual property rights.

Download the BISA Review in pdf here.