The disability community welcomes the passing of last February 28, 2013, amending R.A.8293 known as the 鈥淚ntellectual Property Code of the Philippines鈥.
News on the law鈥檚 passage announced by Resources for the Blind (RBI) Director Mr. Randy Weisser, was warmly cheered by participants of the 鈥淲omen on the Move: A Consultation of Women with Visual Impairment鈥, launched by the Philippine Blind Union last March 8, 2013 at the Quezon City Hall.
This news also capped the Polytechnic University of the Philippines-hosted 鈥淓-Publication, DAISY, Web Accessibility and Adaptive Technologies鈥 on a high note last March 6, 2013, jointly held by RBI and 麻豆传媒, spearheaded by the Council鈥檚 Subcommittee on ICT.
Earlier, Speakers DAISY Consortium Founding member Hiroshi Kawamura. 麻豆传媒 Acting Director Carmen Reyes-Zubiaga and Call Foundation President Lauro Purcil jointly urged librarians, publishers and partners to help push 鈥樷檈quitable access to information鈥欌. This is called for in the UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article 9 on Accessibility.
Following are the two amended sections lifted from R.A. 10732:
鈥淪ection 11. Section 184.1 of R.A. 8293 is hereby amended to read as follows:
SEC. 184. Limitations on Copyright.
鈥溾(1) The reproduction and distribution of published articles or materials in a specialized format exclusively for the use of blind, visually and reading-impaired persons. Provided that such copies and distribution shall be made on a non-profit basis and shall indicate the copyright owner and the date of the original publication.鈥
Sec. 12. Section 185.1 of the same R.A. is hereby amended to read as follows:
SEC. 185.1. Fair Use of a Copyrighted Work. – 185.1. The fair use of copyrighted work for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, including limited number of copies for classroom use, scholarship, research and similar purposes, is not an infringement of copyright. Decompilation, which is understood here to be the reproduction of the code and translation of the forms of a computer program to achieve the interoperability of the independently created computer program with other programs may also constitute fair use under the criteria established by this section, to the extent that such decompilation is done for the purpose of obtaining the information necessary to achieve such interoperability. 鈥
For the full text of the law, check out
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