On 26-27 October 2017, EIFL participated in two stakeholder meetings organized by the Armenian Intellectual Property Agency (AIPA) to discuss Armenia’s draft copyright law.

Professor Kenneth D. Crews, international copyright lawyer and scholar, and Teresa Hackett, EIFL’s Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, took part in roundtable discussions on new provisions in the draft law relating to libraries, education and research.

In the first roundtable on 26 October, leading publishers in Armenia, representing 85% of the local book market, shared their views and experiences in a wide-ranging discussion. In addition to copyright, important issues such as legal deposit, VAT on books and import duties were discussed in a lively debate.

On 27th October, over 30 librarians from university and public libraries attended the second roundtable that began with a presentation by Prof Crews entitled ‘Education and Libraries: Armenian Law and the International Experience’. Describing the importance of copyright exceptions for digital learning environments, Prof Crews also shared insights into how copyright laws are developing in other countries (the WIPO Study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives (2017 edition) prepared by Prof Crews is now available). Librarians also had an opportunity to ask questions on everyday issues, such as using copyrighted material in Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), and making copies for research.

“We want the copyright law to work for everyone in the information chain - publishers, libraries, education and consumers”, said Teresa Hackett. “It’s a bit of a cliché, but it really is about getting the balance right. I commend AIPA for organizing roundtable discussions with stakeholders that will help to achieve this important goal.”

The stakeholder meetings were hosted by the American University of Armenia (AUA), in collaboration with AUA’s AGBU Papazian Library.

Find out more

Read more about EIFL’s work supporting national copyright law reform in Armenia.