US Fair Use and EU Limitations and Exceptions: Which Model for the Cambodian Educational System?

Abstract

Copyright and related rights law is designed to promote creative works and cultural development. Copyright law grants both economic rights and moral rights, which provide authors reward for their human endeavor and the recoup of financial investment of their venture. Copyright policy has an impact on socio-economic development, education and technology. Accordingly, each country has a primary concern with the issue of the compliance of their copyright law and policy with international treaties and best practices, with a view of becoming more appealing in the world competitive market, and also with how to ensure that their development objectives a fully met.One goal of copyright law is to allow for the use of copyrighted materials in higher education. In fact, at times, stakeholders face increased difficulty to access copyrighted works for educational purposes, because of the extension of copyright protection, which provides broader rights to the creative work of the author. These authors want to extend copyright protection and obtain broader rights to their creative works.Copyright law often includes limitations and exceptions in order to strike a balance between the interests of individual creators and the public at large, and to facilitate access and dissemination of copyrighted materials. Fair use doctrine is the most important limitation and exception in copyright law and it is supported by economic policy. It negates allegations of copyright infringement and it is flexible in its application based on the facts of the particular case.The Law on Copyright and Related Rights of Cambodia was enacted in 2003 and it includes several limitations and exceptions for the use of copyrighted materials for the purposes of study and research at educational institutions and public libraries.This paper provides a snapshot of the fair use doctrine in United States copyright law, as well as the limitations and exceptions in the European Union . It explores the case law relating to copyright and the fair use doctrine to provide context for the discussion. The goal of the paper is to also provide a critical analysis of the limitations and exceptions provision under the copyright law of Cambodia, and to discuss the policy alternatives available to amend the law, to better implement this important doctrine.