A/HRC/28/57 IV. Copyright policy and cultural participation 60. The human rights perspective calls for recognition of the social and human values inherent in copyright law and a heightened regard for fundamental rights and the needs of marginalized groups. The emphasis on active participation in cultural and scientific life, rather than simply the ability to access cultural and scientific works, recognizes the dual importance of accessing the knowledge and expressive creations of others and of selfexpression within the broader cultural context. A. Promoting cultural participation through exceptions and limitations 61. Copyright exceptions and limitations — defining specific uses that do not require a licence from the copyright holder — constitute a vital part of the balance that copyright law must strike between the interests of rights-holders in exclusive control and the interests of others in cultural participation. Copyright exceptions and limitations have rarely been the topic of international norm-setting, hence State practice varies significantly.20 62. One crucial function of exceptions and limitations is to help assure artistic livelihoods. Statutory licensing can facilitate creative transactions and enhance creators’ earnings.21 63. Another vital function is to empower new creativity. Copyright exceptions and limitations can enable caricature, parody, pastiche and appropriation art to borrow recognizably from prior works in order to express something new and different. Documentary film-makers also require freedom to use specific images, video clips or music necessary to tell a particular story. Depending on a country’s exceptions and limitations regime, those artistic practices may be clearly defined as permissible or may occupy a legal grey zone that makes it difficult for creators to commercialize and distribute their works. 64. Copyright exceptions and limitations can also expand educational opportunities by promoting broader access to learning materials. For example, the copyright regimes of China, Thailand and Viet Nam include exceptions and limitations that explicitly authorize many forms of educational copying. In other countries, exceptions and limitations determine whether textbooks may be commercially rented and whether researchers and students can make a personal copy of borrowed materials. Copyright exceptions and limitations allowing for digitization and display can facilitate distance-learning techniques, bringing new opportunities to students in developing countries or rural regions. 65. Furthermore, copyright exceptions and limitations may also expand space for noncommercial culture. When the public performance right is defined broadly, exceptions and limitations can be enacted to exempt religious services, school performances, public festivals and other not-for-profit contexts from securing licences to perform musical or dramatic works. 66. A human rights perspective also requires that the potential of copyright exceptions and limitations to promote inclusion and access to cultural works, especially for disadvantaged groups, be fully explored. 20 21 Ruth Okediji, “The International Copyright System: Limitations, Exceptions and Public Interest Considerations for Developing Countries”, ICTSD Issue Paper No. 15 (2006). Available from http://unctad.org/en/Docs/iteipc200610_en.pdf. See Geiger, “Promoting Creativity”. 13