Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
irst Regular Session

House Bill No. 2040

Introduced by HON. IRWIN C. TIENG
and HON. MARIANO MICHAEL M. VELARDE

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Article XIV, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution provides that “The State shall protect and
‘omote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps
make them accessible to ail”. Further, Section 2 of the same Article upholds to establish,
maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the
needs of the people and society.

For people who are visually-impaired, the inability to read print severely limits their
access to information of value for education, work and social integration that is readily available
to print readers. This puts them at a significant social and economic disadvantage, and hinders
their full inclusion in society. In effect, it renders them illiterate, when in fact, they may be very
well educated and fully literate.

‘The major obstacle encountered worldwide by accessible media producers has been in
the long delays in securing permission from copyright holders to produce their materials in a
iccessible for the visually-impaired. Print material that is available to any sighted person
y take months or even longer before it can be provided in a format thet a visually-
person can read. By then, it may very well be no longer relevant or Useful.

This bill seeks to grant exemption in the translation of printed materials into formats
accessible to the visually-impaired and for other purposes, thereby amending Section 185 of
Republic Act No. 8293 otherwise known as the “Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines’.
This would give visually-impaired persons equal and timely access to copyrighted print materials
thus, improving their educational and vocational levels. After all, there are a number of
countries who have already passed similar measure to correct this unequal access to printed
materials.

This proposed legislation if signed into law would permit production and distribution of
pecial format books and magazines for the visually impaired-without first obtaining a copyright
rance from the appropriate bureau thereby expediting the early circulation of the aforesaid
materials necessary for the use of visually-impaired persons.

In the light of the foregoing, early approval of this measure is earnestly sought.

Mao)

MARIANO MICHAEL M. VELARDE



REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
QUEZON CITY

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS,
First Regular Session

House BILLNo.__2040

Introduced by HON. IRWIN C. TIENG
and HON. MARIANO MICHAEL M. VELARDE

AN ACT

GRANTING EXEMPTIONS FROM SECURING PERMISSION FROM THE PUBLISHER
OR COPYRIGHT OWNER OF PRINTED MATERIALS TO REPRODUCE THE SAME
IN A SPECIALIZED FORMAT FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF BLIND OR VISUALLY-
IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE SECTION 185 OF
REPUBLIC ACT NO, 8293, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES ", AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress
assembled,

SECTION 1. - AMENDMENTS - Section 185 of Republic Act No. 8293 is hereby
amended by adding a new provision to read as follows:

“ SECTION 185. Fair Use of Copyrighted Work. - 185.1. The fair use of a

copyrighted work for criticism, comment, news repotting, teaching including multiple
copies for classroom use, scholarship, research, and similar purposes is not an
infringement of copyright. IT IS NOT ALSO AN INFRINGEMENT OF THE
COPYRIGHTED WORK TO REPRODUCE OR DISTRIBUTE COPIES OF PUBLISHED
ARTICLES/MATERIALS IF SUCH COPIES ARE REPRODUCED OR DISTRIBUTED IN
A SPECIALIZED FORMAT EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE USE OF THE BLIND OR
VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS PROVIDED, THAT SUCH COPIES AND
DISTRIBUTION SHALL BE MADE ON A NON-PROFIT BASIS AND SHALL INDICATE
THE COPYRIGHT OWNER AND THE DATE OF THE ORIGINAL PUBLICATION
THIS DISTRIBUTION IS ALSO PERMITTED IN CASE THE COPIES HAVE BEEN
MADE ABROAD AND THE CONDITIONS MENTIONED ABOVE HAVE BEEN

FULFILLED.

Decompilation, which is understood here to be the reproduction of the code


and translation of the forms of the computer program with other program to achieve the
inter- operability of an independently created computer program with other programs

may also constitute fair use, the factors to be considered shall include:

a) The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use
is of a commercial nature; [or is for non- profit educational
purposes]

b) The nature of the copyrighted work;

c) The amount and substantially of the portion used in relation to the
copyrighted work as a whole;

d) The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the

copyrighted work.”

SECTION 2. - LIMITATIONS- The provision of section 1 shall not apply to
standardized, secure, or norm- referenced tests and related testing materials, or to
computer programs, except the portions thereof that are conventional human language
(including descriptions of pictorial works) and displayed to users in the ordinary course
of using the computer programs.

SECTION 3. - DEFINITION OF TERMS.- For purposes of this Act, these terms
shall be defined as follows:

ik Blind or visually-impaired person means an individual who cannot read
printed materials due to low or lack of vision.

2. Specialized format means braille, audio, large print, digital text or other
formats which enables the blind or visually-impaired person to read the print material.

SECTION 4, - REPEALING CLAUSE.- All laws, executive orders, presidential
decrees, rule and regulations or any parts thereof which are inconsistent of this Act are
hereby repealed accordingly.

SECTION 5. - EFFECTIVITY - This Act shall take immediately upon its approval.

Approved,