The SCCR 29 went again into informals this morning and NGOs can listen but not report on what is going on. As per the agenda, the broadcasting treaty is still the topic of discussion. While the US delegation was supporting making the charts describing the definitions, concepts and rights being discussed available to the public, there were other delegations (TBD) against it and the charts are thus still “secret”.
We are reconvening into plenary after the coffee break.
At 1:30pm KEI has a side event about what is wrong with the broadcast treaty.
At 3pm Dr. Crews will present the update of his study. This will introduce the new topic to be discussed: limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives. Here is a Summary of the update of the Crew Study
A study of copyright exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives, commissioned by WIPO in 2008, provided a foundation for the consideration and evaluation of the issues by delegates from the WIPO member states. The original study was conducted by Dr. Kenneth D. Crews and he was again commissioned to be the principal investigator for the present 2014 report.In 2008, Dr Crews analysed the copyright laws of 149 of the 184 WIPO member states. Membership today has grown to 187 states. The combined 2008 and 2014 reports encompass the copyright laws from 186 of those countries. Accordingly, the first section of this 2014 report includes new charts from 37 countries that were not included in the 2008 study.
According to the Crews Study library exceptions are “clearly fundamental to the copyright law of most countries” as only 33 countries of the 186 member were identified as having no copyright exception in their statutes. The Study covers 153 countries that have one or more statutes that constitute a “library exception” within the scope of this study.
The statutory library exceptions primarily address issues such as:
-reproduction of copyrighted works for private research and study,
-preservation and replacement of materials, and
-document supply and interlibrary lending.There have been some changes:
The study notes that some issues that were prevalent in the 2008 such as “statutes governing copying machines at the library and limitations on liabilities for infringements” have not been taken up by more countries.
However, a growing number of countries have instituted a provision from a European Union directive regarding the ability of libraries to make digital copies of works available for study at dedicated terminals on the library’s premises. That concept has been adopted by many E.U. countries, and by some countries outside the E.U.
Second, many countries have adopted statutes on anti-circumvention of technological measures, and the statutes now more regularly include exemptions for the benefit of libraries.
Only a few countries have revised their statutes:
the United Kingdom in 2014 enacted an extensive array of copyright exceptions. The revised library exceptions encompass the familiar concepts such as preservation and research copying, but with clearer and more detailed application to diverse materials, and with more explicit application of digital technologies.
the Russian Federation. Major revisions of its copyright statutes, also in 2014, include provisions that extend the former law to new uses and new technologies. Russian law also includes distinctive provisions supporting library services for the benefit of blind persons. Although not explicitly about libraries, the new Russian statutes include original language permitting “open licensing” of copyrighted works for public use.
France and Japan have granted their national libraries broad rights to digitize many out-of-print books and to make the digital files available to readers at many libraries throughout each country.
Following questions regarding the Study, the many libraries and archives’ representatives (eiFL, IFLA, the German Library Association, Karisma Foundation, SAA) will take the floor and make statement regarding the following topics:
1. Preservation
2. Right of reproduction and safeguarding copies
3. Legal deposit
4. Library lending
5. Parallel importation
6. Cross-border uses
7. Orphan works, retracted and withdrawn works, and works out of commerce
8. Limitations on liability
9. TPMs
10. Contracts
11. Translation