Abstract:
The digital technology presents challenges to copyright owners and traditional public access to
copyrighted works via exception. Accordingly, the copyright owners are responding by using
technological protection measures (TPMs) and right information management that are used to
control access to or prevent users from digitally copying or sharing works without authorization.
This poses uncertainty regarding balance of digital copyrights of authors and public access.
Suitability of existing International laws and many national laws for governing ways of the
protection of digital works and implication of circumvention for maintaining exceptions that allow
public access to copy righted remained controversial. The main objective of this study is to
analyze the mechanism of balancing digital copyrighted works and the public exceptional access
to digitalized copyright under the Ethiopian law. To achieve this objective, the study employs
doctrinal research as well as comparative analysis of Ethiopia’s applicable laws with other legal
systems’ modern copyright legislations. The main finding of the study is that in Ethiopia the scope
of existing copyright law dealing with the mechanisms of protection of digitalized copyrights and
its implication for permissible exceptions are not clearly and soundly regulated. It also finds the
computer crime proclamation prohibits intentional illegal access to computer content data
without authorization and trafficking in devices that designed exclusively for purpose of
circumvention of access protection technologies. Moreover, it reveals the Ethiopian government
currently ratified WIPO Marrakesh Treaty by Proclamation No. 1181/2020 on March 13, 2020
that allows circumventions of TPMs by beneficiary persons for enjoying the limitations and
exceptions provided in nationallaw. However, except these laws, current conventional copyright
law and any other legislation do not provide exceptions that allow certain indispensable
circumvention of TPMs for the public users. The thesis noticed that the existing copyright laws in
Ethiopia is not adequate and sound enough in regulating the appropriate balance between legal
protections of TPMs and public exception to it. Based on this finding, specific recommendations
are finally suggested for a balance between the rights of the copyright holders and the public in
the digital environment considering the best comparative experiences from certain modern
copyright legislations existing in some selected jurisdictions.
