Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
The chapter – appearing in the Fifth Edition of Paul Torreman’s standard work on Intellectual Property Law and Human Rights – focuses on the subject of establishing conformity between copyright and access to learning materials under the right to education. It first looks at the provisions of international copyright law designed to facilitate the use of copyrighted materials in education, and their shortcomings, then analyses the imperatives of the right to education for access to learning materials, but also looks at claims that may be raised under competing human rights, namely creators’ rights and the right to property, to then identify the instrumentalities available under international law to achieve balance – treaty interpretation and extraterritorial obligations (ETOs) of states under international human rights law. There will then be a focus on demands on states under ETOs relating to one specific aspect: (states as members of) the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) could, or should, adopt a Treaty on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Educational (and Research) Activities. The spotlight here will be on the commendable model treaty ‘TERA’ developed by civil society as a potential blueprint. The chapter will conclude by briefly referring to another new field of dramatic tension between copyright and the right to education that would justify a chapter on its own: the increasing ‘assetisation’ (and thus privatisation) occurring in the education sector in the age of educational technology (edtech) through intellectual property rights, notably copyright and copyright licensing, this undermining education as a public responsibility under the right to education.

Beiter, Klaus D, Copyright and the Right to Education: Towards Balance? – Or Copyright’s Capture of the Right to Education? (March 1, 2026).