[Random-bits] Norm setting on copyright limitations and exceptions at WIPO: What is ready?

[James Love]

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/01/28/sccr_norm-setting-lne/

Norm setting on copyright limitations and exceptions at WIPO: What is
ready?

In Knowledge Ecology Notes
By James Love, January 28, 2009

Over the past several weeks there have been a several cases where some
well motivated and knowledgeable persons about copyright policy have
expressed criticism of an effort by WIPO to negotiate a treaty for
persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities, on the grounds
that this is not ambitious enough, and a larger all inclusive treaty on
limitations and exceptions should be the target.

At the same time, publishers are seeking to block any WIPO norm setting
in the area of statutory exceptions to exclusive rights, including even
for reading disabled persons. Failing that, the publishers want to
narrow the scope of the exceptions as much as possible, for example by
not including many important reading disabilities, such as persons who
cannot travel to libraries, people who suffer from severe dyslexia, or
who, because of physical disabilities, cannot turn the pages of a book.

At the 16th session of the WIPO SCCR Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua and
Uruguay endorsed a broad work program for L&E  (SCCR 16/2).  This broad
agenda is supported by all of the civil society NGOs, including KEI.  It
singled out for particular attention those L&E dealing with education,
libraries, archives, innovative services and persons with disabilities,
but it is not limited to even those areas.

The stakeholder groups that are interested in global norm setting in
terms of minimum limitations and exceptions all support the larger
agenda.  However, as a practical matter, not every area is ripe for norm
setting.

Recognizing this, the proposal by Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua and Uruguay
sets out a process that provides for different stages of work, beginning
with the collection of information on state practices and analysis, and
ending up with norm setting.   For some sectors, there is a large need
for gathering information on state practices.  This has already been
done in some other sectors, such as for Libraries and Archives (SCCR
17/2) and for visually impaired persons (SCCR/15/7), and other studies
are underway.

The World Blind Union (WBU), working with other NGOs, including for many
years, the International Federation of Library Associations and
Institutions (IFLA), has petitioned WIPO for global norm setting.  One
effort took place in 1982, in an experts meeting hosted by WIPO and
UNESCO.  (See meeting report
here:http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/tvi/1982_report.pdf).

More recently, the WBU has proposed a series of very concrete "asks" of
the WIPO SCCR, including the interventions set out here:

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=213

In the fall of 2008, the World Blind Union tabled a proposal for a
treaty for blind and other reading disabled persons.  Before doing so,
the WBU consulted widely with copyright experts and stakeholders, and
undertook considerable work to resolve differences among its diverse
membership, and it worked with the broader disabled community, to ensure
that the proposal was in the inclusive spirit of the recent UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

None of the other sectors or work areas for copyright limitations and
exceptions are as mature for norm setting as is the community of persons
with reading disabilities.  Other groups are also getting organized, but
at different paces.  Most are at a nascent stage of maturity.   The
library community is the second most organized group, and it has yet to
table a specific comprehensive "ask" for the global library community.
The education sector is not organized at all.  The innovative services
sector barely has a clue that the WIPO discussions are taking place.
No one working on “orphan works” is ready to propose a global norm.

It is simply not practical to move every important limitation and
exceptions issue into a global norm setting mode, at this point.  If you
wait for every sector to be ready, you may wait a lifetime.

KEI supports the notion that the WIPO SCCR should begin it's norm
setting agenda in small confidence building steps, working with
communities that know what they want.  The reading disabled community is
at the head of the line both because they are ready now, and because
they have a very compelling need.  According to the World Health
Organization, there are 45 million persons who are blind, and 90 percent
of them live in developing countries, mostly in appalling poverty and
with very limited employment opportunities.

The UK RNIB has a slogan: "Books before we are dead."  I think this is
something people need to think about.  If persons with reading
disabilities know what they want, and in fact if they have known what
they wanted for a very long time, we should act and address their needs.
No one among the civil society NGOs disagrees that this should be part
of a larger work program on copyright limitations and exceptions.  But
it should not wait until everything can be harmonized.


-- 
James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
http://www.keionline.org | mailto:james.love at keionline.org
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