Summary

In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, everyone has the right to education (§ 37). The same right arises from Article 26 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 14 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. At the same time, education is unthinkable without access to educational materials, many of which are protected by copyright and related rights. This is where copyright exceptions become important.

Exceptions to copyright play a central role in striking a fair balance between the interests of copyright holders and society. In this article, the authors examine the development, purpose, and conditions of the education exception as one of the most central copyright exceptions. The main focus is on the whole system of education exception as it largely derives from EU law, including the DSM Directive. Exceptions that support educational objectives (e.g. citation exception, personal use exception, research exception) but are not expressis verbis established for educational purposes remain outside the focus of this article.

In their analysis, the authors rely on the Copyright Act, the Information Society Directive, the DSM Directive and the draft act transposing the DSM Directive into Estonian law (including the explanatory memorandum of the draft act), other materials relating to the procedure for transposing the DSM Directive, and case law.