• Consumers International

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06 September 2010The biggest barriers that consumers face in accessing copyright works are those created by copyright law. Even so, consumers around the world will choose original copyright works over pirated copies, provided that they are available at an affordable price.

These are amongst the findings from a global survey of consumers conducted by Consumers International (CI), conducted in 13 languages and covering 15,000 consumers across 24 countries. The survey was designed to determine what obstacles consumers faced in gaining access to educational and cultural materials and software.

This volume of reports from Consumers International on their research and campaigning activities over the last two years is supplemented by country research on consumers and copyright.  The book offers new insights into how consumers are impacted by laws and policies on access to knowledge.

As the peak body of the global consumer movement, CI believes that a  knowledge society can be developed only when there is access to information on all fronts. Such a society is sustainable when access to knowledge is unhampered and inclusive, promoting co-operative forms of knowledge production as the basis for innovation and creativity.

In this context, Consumers International and its members from around the world have engaged in a series of research and advocacy programmes on access to knowledge from 2008 to 2010, with the support of Ford Foundation and the Open Society Institute.  This volume presents the results of these activities, including:

• A global survey of consumers, revealing for the first time the extent of the barriers that they face in accessing and using copyright materials.
• Research from Australia and Israel on the impact of reforms to those countries' copyright laws which introduced new flexibilities for consumers.
• Advocacy and campaigning activities in India, Nigeria, Brazil, South Africa, Cameroon and Zambia focussed on improving access to knowledge for consumers.