Landmark Concourt victory for the blind

IN A LANDMARK victory, the Constitutional Court has handed down a ruling allowing for the creation of accessible format copies for the blind like Braille of copyrighted works without needing permission from the copyright holder.

- NICOLA DANIELS

“This will allow blind people to have better access to published work so that it can improve our education and access to reading and material and thereby improve our participation in the economy and the country. For the last 20 years we've been trying to advocate for the exceptions in legislation,” said BlindSA CEO Jace Nair.

The case centred on the President not signing the Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) by September 2024, which left blind people without a legal exception to access copies of copyrighted material in accessible formats without seeking permission from the copyright holder.

Blind SA, represented by Section27, had challenged provisions of the Copyright Act that criminalised anyone who converted reading materials into accessible formats, like Braille or large print, without the consent of the copyright holder.

The legislative process relating to the amendment of the Act began in 2015, when Parliament published the CAB. The Bill introduced clause 19D, which aimed to create exceptions for people with visual and print disabilities to access copyrighted works.