2 July 2014
On day 3 of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR28), the United States of America delivered the following opening statement on copyright exceptions and limitations.
28TH MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS, JULY 2, 2014U.S. OPENING STATEMENT ON EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS (AS DELIVERED)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The United States is pleased to continue the SCCR’s discussion regarding exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives. Exceptions and limitations to support the important work of these institutions in preserving and providing access to works are a critical element of a balanced and vibrant copyright regime. In fact, one of the earliest copyright laws, the Statute of Anne, made special provision for libraries, recognizing that society at large is the ultimate beneficiary.
We note that many countries are currently engaged in updating their library exceptions, and this is an evolving area, particularly in light of new technologies. In the United States, these exceptions are the subject of legislative hearings and public roundtables, as well as discussions by governmental entities.
In our view, individual countries should have flexibility to tailor exceptions and limitations to address their own needs, within the constraints of international obligations, taking into consideration their specific legal, cultural, and economic environments. This flexibility is important to the U.S., and we believe it is important to others as well. For this reason, we do not support a treaty or binding norm setting at an international level. We recognize other countries have different views. But, there is no question that for all of us, these discussions at WIPO are timely and important. There is much that we can accomplish here to encourage and promote the development of appropriate exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives. Our areas of disagreement should not prevent us from making progress to the benefit of all countries.
We continue to believe that the best way forward is to focus on general principles and objectives, and find concepts on which all Member States can agree. At SCCR 23, the United States presented a document that offered some examples. One objective is the fundamental one of encouraging Member States to adopt exceptions and limitation in their national laws, consistent with their international obligations, that facilitate the public service role of libraries and archives, maintaining the balance between the rights of authors and the larger public interest, particularly education, research, and access to information. As we learned from Professor Crews’s earlier study for the SCCR, many Member States do not have such exceptions, and it would be valuable to have an international consensus that it is important to include them in the copyright balance. Another objective is to promote exceptions and limitations that enable libraries and archive to carry out their public service role of preserving creative works. After listening to other Member States, we realized that there were additional areas of possible agreement, such as enabling libraries and archives to carry out their mission in the digital environment, and introduced a revised principles and objectives document as SCCR 26/8. With the input of this Committee, we hope to further develop principles and objectives to recognize the varied public service roles of libraries and archives and facilitate their ability to perform these roles.
Once we have developed a level of agreement on principles and objectives, the U.S. would propose further work on developing and updating national laws to implement them. This could involve regional workshops, conferences, and sharing of experiences, as well as studies and technical assistance. The United States strongly believes that this approach would result in meaningful progress and real improvements in library and archive services worldwide.
We look forward to substantive discussion on principles and objectives and to hearing the views of others. We of course also welcome any questions or comments on the ideas that we have put forward in our Principles and Objectives document.