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 November 4, 2008
- 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).