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Non-Copyright Exceptions for People with Disabilities

This article will analyze the non-infringement exceptions to copyright for people with disabilities, which aim to ensure access to information and culture for everyone. These provisions enable people with disabilities to use works legally without violating copyright, while promoting social inclusion.

Clause 7, Article 1 of the 2022 amended Law on Intellectual Property adds exceptions for non-infringement of copyright for people with disabilities, including:

- Persons with disabilities, caregivers, and caregivers of persons with disabilities have the right to copy, perform, and communicate works in accessible formats when they have legal access to the original or a copy of the work. An accessible format copy is a copy of a work expressed in a different method or format for persons with disabilities; it may only be used for the personal use of persons with disabilities and may have appropriate technical adjustments necessary to enable persons with disabilities to access the work.

- Organizations that meet the conditions prescribed by the Government have the right to copy, distribute, perform, and communicate works in accessible formats when they have legal access to the original or a copy of the work and operate not for profit.

- Organizations that meet the conditions prescribed by the Government have the right to distribute or communicate copies in accessible formats of the work to corresponding organizations as prescribed in international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member without the permission of the copyright owner.

- An organization that meets the conditions prescribed by the Government has the right to distribute or communicate copies in accessible formats of the work to people with disabilities abroad in accordance with the provisions of international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member without the permission of the copyright owner, provided that before distributing or communicating, the organization does not know or has no basis to know that the copy in accessible format will be used for any audience other than people with disabilities.

- Persons with disabilities or persons raising or caring for persons with disabilities or organizations that meet the conditions prescribed by the Government have the right to import copies in accessible formats of works from relevant organizations as prescribed in international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member for the benefit of persons with disabilities without requiring permission from the copyright owner.