William New of IP-Watch offers a perspicacious insight into WIPO’s upcoming Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in his piece entitled Participants Ready Agendas For New-Look WIPO Copyright Committee.
The World Blind Union (WBU) drafted a proposal for a WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons, and sent it to all member states and WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. The WBU represents 180 million blind and visually impaired persons from about 600 different organisations in 158 countries. Since 2003, it has been asking the SCCR to consider harmonisation of national limitations and exceptions in order to ease publication and distribution of copyrighted works in accessible ways. A key concern is the ability to overcome current barriers to export and import of such works.