Negotiations

KEI Notes on TTIP 5th Round: How to engage in a dialogue without access to the text?

Posted on by Claire Cassedy

Wednesday, at the George Mason University Law Campus in Arlington, VA, the Office of the US Trade Representative hosted an all day Stakeholder Forum in conjunction with the fifth negotiating round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The first part of the day was devoted to Stakeholder Policy Presentations, with several hours of presentations by a variety of industry, academics, trade associations, and public interest groups. The latter part of the day consisted of a briefing by the US Chief Negotiator Dan Mullaney and the EU Chief Negotiator Ignacio Garcia-Bercero.

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SCCR27: Chair’s Conclusions

Posted on by Thiru

At 12:56 AM on 3 May 2014, WIPO’s Copyright Committee, (SCCR27) could not reach agreement on the future work on “Limitations and exceptions: libraries and archives.” The main point of contention was “text-based work” which the European Union sought to excise from the text. Consequently, the Committee was at an impasse in developing an appropriate international legal instrument (in whatever form) on copyright exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives (whether model law, joint recommendation, treaty and/or other forms). Continue Reading →

SCCR 27 Difficult Discussion re Orphan Works & Author Right to Withdraw Work from Circulation

Posted on by Manon Ress

ORPHAN WORKS, RETRACTED AND WITHDRAWN WORKS, AND WORKS OUT OF COMMERCE
May 1, 2014 SCCR TOPIC 7

The discussion regarding orphan works included the rather difficult and political topic of moral rights and the right to withdraw a work from circulation. Can a library reproduce and make available a work that the author wants withdrawn from the public?

For example the Africa group had proposed:

Right to Access Retracted and Withdrawn Works
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KEI intervention on Library Access to Orphan works, at SCCR 27

Posted on by James Love

KEI and other NGOs attending SCCR 27 have been able to make interventions on various articles in the proposed library treaty. On the issue of library access to orphaned works, KEI’s intervention covered the following points, and made a proposal for text.

1. There is ample evidence that national approaches to providing access to orphan works is quite diverse.
2. The diversity of approaches have been used by some to express pessimism that this issue can be addressed in a treaty.
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Cross-Border Evidence at SCCR 27 May 1, 2014

Posted on by Manon Ress

If the Broadcasters’treaty often appeared to be a treaty in search of a problem in the last few days (or years?), the Libraries and Archives’ problem is about a treaty in search of a solution… or maybe solutions. And if the problems (and thus solutions) were not specifically cross borders…well, the librarians and archivists of the world would not be here “en masse” testifying at the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, a Committee extremely proud to have created the WCT and the WPPT to solve the cross border issues of copyright owners.

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The Need for an International Agreement on Orphan Works? A Large Coalition of Librarians & Archivists Make the Case at SCCR27

Posted on by Manon Ress

Orphan works are obviously the bread and butter of libraries and even more so for Archives, the very institutions that deal daily and all over the world with unpublished, anonymous but still culturally extremely valuable works. One would think that since there is little economic value for these types of works as well as an obvious international need to preserve and access these types of works, the discussions could go smoothly and result quickly in a new WIPO agreement. However, progress are slow, too slow for the good of copyright!

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SCCR 27 Topic 2: Libraries & Archives

Posted on by Manon Ress

After 3pm the SCCR 27 (April 30, 2014) turned to Topic 2: Libraries and archives

In brief, countries supporting progress on a binding instrument on limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives include the Africa Group, Iran, Mexico, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Morocco, Russia, Tunisia, Chile, Congo…

Representative quote of a proponent:
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SCCR 27 WIPO *New* Broadcasters’ Treaty: Impact on Rights Owners

Posted on by Manon Ress

As promised in my previous blog, here in their own words, Tuesday April 29, 2014 afternoon session of SCCR 27, the view point of copyright owners on the proposed treaty for broadcasting organizations. The fact that it is quite repetitive is probably one of the points they were trying to make and it was in fact quite effective in “changing” the general mood of the meeting.

The two following quotes summarize the arguments:

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Is the WIPO Treaty for Broadcasters Moving Forward at SCCR 27?

Posted on by Manon Ress

The WIPO treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organization: The Way Forward?

On day 2 of Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) 27, it looks as if the US delegation was showing the SCCR delegates a “way forward” for a new treaty for broadcasting organizations. It seemed as if US diplomacy was working efficiently and the US proposal was gathering support. However, while the US proposal was indeed gathering support, public interest groups and copyright owners also became more vocal in their opposition to the proposal on the table.

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