The World Blind Union Proposal

• On July 24-25 2008, the World Blind Union (WBU) and KEI convened an experts meeting to consider a possible WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons. A report of the meeting is available in  html, pdf , Microsoft .doc or open document odt formats.
• The text of the WBU proposal for a treaty is available here in Arabic, English, French and Spanish. The English version is available in DAISY format from the DAISY Consortium website.
• A good explaination of the proposal is found in the October 28, 2008 letter from Christopher E.B. Friend, Chair, of the WBU Copyright and Right to Read Working Group, to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry.
• A summary of discussions at WIPO on access for blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled persons, dating back to 2002, is available here. 

Background Documents

• WIPO will be holding a Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meeting December 14-18, 2009, where this topic will be discussed. A list of the country delegates to the previous SCCR meeting are available here.
• • The November 4, 2008 presentations by Judith Sullivan at the WIPO SCCR 17,
    
  • in powerpoint and pdf.
• The March 2008 Proposal by Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua and Uruguay for Work Related to Exceptions and Limitations, (SCCR/16/2)
• The February 2007 Judith Sullivan's excellent WIPO Study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for the Visually Impaired (SCCR/15/7).
• The November 2005 Proposal by Chile on the Analysis of Exceptions and Limitations (SCCR/13/5)
• The 2003 WBU submissions to WIPO are detailed here and here .
• KEI will soon have a page on national copyright exceptions here.

Press coverage and blogs

• Available here.

Groups supporting the WBU proposal:

• Benetech /  Bookshare.org letter of "strong support" for a WIPO treaty for the visually impaired is available here.
• Vision Australia's letter to the Australian delegation supporting WBU's proposal for a WIPO treaty for the visually impaired is available here.
• Letter to Canadian delegation from CNIB president Jim Sanders.
• Letter from Tiflolibros (Argentina) to the governments of Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador and Cuba
• Chilean NGO Derechos Digitales's request to the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Chilean National Blind Organization's letter to the Chilean government 
• Letter from ONCE, the National Organization of the Spanish Blind, to the Spanish government requesting support for the WBU WIPO treaty proposal
• Letter from Indian civil society to the Indian government

General studies and papers on copyright limitations and exeptions

• P. Bernt Hugenholtz & Ruth L. Okediji), Conceiving an International Instrument on Limitations and Exceptions to Copyright , Study supported by the Open Society Institute (OSI), 6 March 2008.
• Study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives, (SCCR/17/2), August 26, 2008.  P repared by Kenneth Crews, Director, Copyright Advisory Office, Columbia University.
• WIPO Study on Limitations and Exceptions of Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Environment, (SCCR/9/7), April 5, 2003.  Prepared by Mr. Sam Ricketson, Professor of Law, University of Melbourne and Barrister, Victoria, Australia.
• Automated Rights Management Systems and Copyright Limitations and Exceptions, (SCCR/14/5), April 27, 2006.  Prepared by Nic Garnett, Principal Consultant, Interight.com, for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).