In May 2009, at the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) 18th session, the governments of Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay formally tabled a proposal (SCCR/18/5) to WIPO endorsing the World Blind Union’s Treaty for Reading Disabled Persons. The States’ proposal has generated a flurry of activity including meetings scheduled in Belgium, Egypt, India and the United States related to the Treaty, norm setting, orphan works and limitations and exceptions to copyright. From the information we have so far, public consultations are currently underway in Chile and the United States.
In Chile, a public notice was issued on September 22, 2009; the deadline for comments is November 22, 2009.
The United States will issue a federal register notice for comments on September 28, 2009; at this time, information is not available on the deadline for comments.
Meetings and Workshops
Egypt
- On November 1, 2009, WIPO, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, will organize a meeting on the needs of “visually impaired persons” and other copyright issues in Cairo.
- A meeting of the Stakeholders Platform will be held on November 2, 2009 at the Library of Alexandria in Egypt.
European Union (Brussels)
- As mentioned in an earlier post, on November 10, 2009, the European Parliament is holding a workshop in Brussels entitled “Copyright: Tackling Orphan Works and Improving Access to Works for Visually Impaired Persons”. A cursory glance of the program indicates that this workshop will feed into the EU policy making process in preparation for SCCR 19. The Swedish government which holds the Presidency of the European Union and the functionaries from the European Commission are featured extensively in this workshop.
- Some key figures participating in this workshop include: Tilman Lueder (European Commission), Tarja Koskinen-Olsson, International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFFRO), Antoine Aubert (Google), Mihaly Ficsor (Hungarian Patent Office), Francis Gurry (World Intellectual Property Organisation), Christopher Friend (World Blind Union (WBU) and Francisco Martinez Calvo, Spanish National Organization of the Blind (ONCE).
United States of America
- WIPO is co-sponsoring a week long training session with the US Patent and Trademark Office and the US Copyright Office in March 2010 for about 25 representative mostly hailing from developing countries. We understand that the funding for this meeting comes from the US government, and that this meeting will be a private meeting.
- We have been told that the topics for this training will include limitations and exceptions, treaty making process, norm settings, issues about implementation of treaties, and the proposed treaty sponsored by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay.