Open Access : A disruptive initiative : A stopgap, substitute and challenge

Copyright is meant to serve the interest of copyright owners and users by maintaining balance, but copyright’s pendulum has failed to maintain the expected equilibrium, because current copyright laws which are meant to maintain the balance have become oppressive tools, facilitating imbalance. The system is defective and has systematically created a generation of deviants, criminals and perpetual law breakers. Respect and compliance with the rule of law is fundamental to societal stability but when the law is at variance with widely accepted practices, people revolt and have a sense of duty to disobey rather than obey. The injustice and unreasonableness of the current copyright system creates an impetus for the open movement initiative which serve a threefold role as a stopgap, substitute and challenge. The goal is ‘access freedom’ and the author postulates that higher educational institutions play a crucial role in accelerating this freedom.