CARL Webinar: Beyond Marrakesh: Fair Dealing and Creating Accessible Copies of Works for Disabled Persons
Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST (11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST)
Presenter: Rowan Meredith
Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) Student, University of Toronto
The Marrakesh Treaty, which entered into force in 2016, was designed to create exceptions to copyright infringement for the creation of accessible copies of works for use by disabled persons. Libraries regularly rely on the Marrakesh Treaty, and on Section 32 of the Copyright Act which implements the Treaty in Canada, to produce accessible copies of works. However, the disability exceptions to copyright law have limitations – for example, they prohibit copying cinematographic works and works that are commercially available in an accessible format. These limitations often encourage libraries and other beneficiaries of the Section 32 provisions to be risk-averse in their copying activities.
This presentation will look at whether and to what extent the creation of accessible copies of works can be understood as falling under a broader exception to copyright law – fair dealing. The presentation will explore the fair dealing jurisprudence in Canada, recognizing that user rights in Canada are meant to be given a broad and liberal interpretation, and will apply it to the creation of accessible copies of works for use by disabled persons. In doing so, the presentation will suggest an alternate basis in copyright law for libraries to create accessible copies of works where the Section 32 disability exceptions are insufficient for a given purpose.