The impact of the Marrakesh Treaty on South African publishers

Abstract

The significant technological advances in reading and content provision technologies since the 1978 Copyright Act in South Africa have not been considered in the expanding exemptions to Copyright nationally. The 2017 version of the amended Copyright Act was sent back to Parliament in South Africa in June of 2020, leaving the provisions for print-disabled readers proposed by the Marrakesh Treaty unimplemented, furthering marginalisation of print disabled readers in SA. A born digital workflow is proposed to facilitate the ‘mainstreaming’ of accessible format materials, and facilitate the implementation of the treaty with minimal disruption to the local publishing industry.