[A2k] IP-Watch: Group of Countries To Back Proposal To Back Proposal For WIPO Treaty On Blind Readers' Rights

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/05/25/group-of-countries-to-back-propos=
al-for-wipo-treaty-on-blind-readers%e2%80%99-rights/

25 May 2009
Group Of Countries To Back Proposal For WIPO Treaty On Blind Readers=92
Rights
By William New @ 12:33 am

A group of Latin American and Caribbean countries have declared their
intention to support discussion of a proposal to negotiate a World
Intellectual Property Organization treaty ensuring an exception to
copyright for visually impaired readers who lack access to protected
reading materials. The proposal is expected to be brought to the floor
of a key copyright committee meeting this week.

The WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)
will meet from 25-29 May.

Representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador,
Jamaica, Peru, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay, plus nongovernmental
organisations met from 13-14 May in Montevideo to discuss a World
Blind Union proposal for a treaty negotiation. The group agreed by
consensus on the need to advance the proposal as a basis for
negotiation, especially in light of the international convention on
the rights of disabled persons that includes a right of non-
discriminatory access. They were to communicate their position to
their own governments, they said in a declaration.

An English translation of the Montevideo declaration is available here
[pdf].

Brazil announced its intention to introduce the WBU proposal at this
week=92s SCCR meeting, supported by several members.

The concern is that visually impaired readers, especially in
developing countries, have access to only a fraction of written
material in the world, often due to costs deriving from copyright
restrictions on the works. For instance, a blind reader in one country
may not have access to a version of a book for blind readers in
another country due to restrictions on cross-border distribution.

The WBU proposal came up at the last meeting of the SCCR in November
2008 as a nongovernmental proposal referred to by some government
delegations during the meeting. At that meeting, all members agreed to
a line in the meeting conclusions that stated, =93a number of
delegations referred to a paper presented by the World Blind Union and
expressed interest in further analysing it.=94 (IPW, WIPO, 9 November
2008).

Exceptions and limitations are a standard part of copyright law,
generally recognising the special needs for access for education,
disabled persons, museums, journalists and so forth. The issue has
been under discussion in the WIPO copyright committee for several
years, following a proposal from Chile.

The WBU proposal and discussions of a possible treaty are separate
from another initiative at the SCCR to collect the views of the
copyright industry and visually impaired stakeholders gathered by the
secretariat since the last meeting.

The interim stakeholder =93platform=94 report is among the documents
readied by the secretariat for this week=92s meeting, and reflects
meetings held by WIPO in January in Geneva and April in London. It
aims at encouraging ongoing discussion on possible solutions by
stakeholders with an eye toward seeking a private-sector breakthrough
that has been elusive for years. This approach echoes the industry
preference to leave it to them to find solutions rather than undertake
a treaty negotiation that could lead to binding terms.

The Montevideo group took the view that the treaty talks can be
undertaken with or without the platform, as the platform would not
resolve all issues, a source said.

Also among the documents prepared for the meeting is supplementary
information by the secretariat on WIPO studies on limitations and
exceptions, including details on progress on treatment of reading
disabled persons. This includes updates on laws in Chile, Argentina,
Colombia, Russia, Greece and Ecuador.

A questionnaire on exceptions and limitations for libraries, education
and the visually impaired also will be reviewed at the meeting. The
secretariat was asked to prepare the questionnaire at the last SCCR
meeting, and governments will have until 1 October 2009 to complete
the 52 questions.

The committee will elect a chair for the meeting. In the case of the
SCCR, unlike any other WIPO committee, the same person has been chair
for as long as a decade: Jukka Liedes of Finland. He has generally
shown sympathy for developed country =96 especially European =96
perspectives. It is unclear why developing countries do not push an
alternative candidate for the chairmanship.

Also on the opening day of the WIPO committee meeting, 25 May, there
will be a daylong =93informational meeting on developments in
broadcasting.=94 This will look at various aspects of IP rights and
broadcasting, an issue that rose to a high-level treaty negotiation at
WIPO in 2007 before collapsing in disagreement. Many thought the issue
was dead at WIPO but there are some members, likely led by Europe, who
keep the issue on the table.

The informational meeting will cover topics such as developments in
industry and technology, development, sports broadcasting, governance
and the public interest.

It is unclear how the informational session will play into the
copyright committee meeting.

Another perennial committee issue, treatment of audiovisual
performances, is on the week=92s agenda as well.

William New may be reached at wnew@ip-watch.ch.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997