Research Exceptions in Comparative Copyright Law

Abstract

Recent scholarship has highlighted the positive impact on scholarship of copyright exceptions for text and data mining and of more “open” exceptions for research uses. Until now, however, there has not been a collection and categorization of the world’s copyright laws according to the degree to which they provide exceptions for research. In this report, we release the results of the first such study. We show that every copyright law in the world has at least one exception to promote research uses of copyrighted works, but that such exceptions vary widely between countries. We conclude that the world’s exceptions for research can be categorized along a spectrum from the most open to (Green in our map) to the most closed (Red) to research uses. Only the green countries in our categorization have adequate limitations and exceptions to permit academic text and data mining research projects. This analysis may be useful to policy makers searching for models for domestic reform, to scholars looking for independent variables to use in impact analysis, and to international policy makers seeking to promote harmonization in research uses across countries.

Keywords: copyright law, research, data mining, text mining