On February 18, 2010, the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a trade association whose members include the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) prepared a 498 page submission to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) detailing their concerns with 39 countries or territories which the IIPA believed were not providing adequate and effective protection of their Continue Reading →
World Intellectual Property Organization
Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)
Nineteenth Session
December 14-18, 2009
United States of America Statement on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Persons with Print Disabilities
As Delivered
December, 2009
Geneva, Switzerland
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The United States is proud to have a series of specific exceptions and limitations in our copyright law, including for education, libraries, and persons with print disabilities.
There will be new participants at the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (Nineteenth Session) Geneva, December 14 to 18, 2009.
Here is the lists of non-governmental organizations, which have requested to be granted observer status in sessions of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), according to SCCR’s Rules of Procedure (see document SCCR/1/2, paragraph 10).
In discussions about a possible WIPO Treaty for persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities, there have been suggestions by some that voluntary licensing by rights holders presents a sufficient solution to the problem. I studied several publications since 1985 to take a closer look at this viewpoint and find out what were the common perceptions.
In the run up to WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights meeting from December 14 to December 18, 2009 (SCCR 19), there is a spate of activity in Europe, Egypt, India and the United States related to the right to read, a treaty for reading disabled persons, orphan works, limitations and exceptions to copyright and norm setting. Continue Reading →
To provide some context to discussions on the term of protection for copyright and related rights, the following note sumarizes on the basic provisions in various multilateral copyright and related rights treaties, on the topics of minimum terms and formalities. … Continue Reading →