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July 24 SCCR 24 informals on blind treaty produce a text, but EU and US block real movement on treaty

Posted on by James Love

This evening’s informal negotiations at the SCCR 24 on the disabilities issue are over, and delegates are coming out now, with a variety of different stories. Some new document will be tabled Wednesday morning. It will have some important differences, unlike a fairly clean text that was tabled a year ago as SCCR/22/15 REV.1, which was endorsed by Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the European Union and its Member States, Mexico, Norway, Paraguay, the Russian Federation, the United States of America and Uruguay.

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US position at WIPO on “the Nature of the Instrument” for copyright exceptions for disabilities

Posted on by James Love

At WIPO SCCR 24, the negotiations on the text of an “instrument” on copyright exceptions for persons with disabilities appear to be going well. For the past year, the delegates have been close on the substantive issues, focusing on a handful of important nuances in the ways that beneficiaries of the agreement are defined, the types of works and rights covered, wording on safeguards, provisions for developing countries, and other technical issues such as the relationship to the Berne and TRIPS three step test. Continue Reading →

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Time is running out at SCCR24 and there is a lot at stake

Posted on by Manon Ress

India like many other delegations (except the EU Commission and the US) has been a strong advocate for the treaty to faciltate access and sharing of accessible formats. There is a lot at stake.
According to the WHO page on the incidence of visual impairments in India:
285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.
About 90% of the world’s visually impaired live in developing countries.

India has a particularly large population of blind persons:
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Video Interviews and Press Coverage from SCCR 24

Posted on by James Love

The following interviews were recorded during the 24th meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). Most of the interviews are focused on the negotiations on a new WIPO treaty for persons who are blind or have other disabilities. The time of the videos varies from 16 seconds to more than 18 minutes. They are organized by the type of stakeholder, and the date of the interviews. This page will be updated during the meeting as I add more videos. Continue Reading →

CCIA,EFF, IFLA, KEI, ISOC, CIS views on the broadcasting treaty July 23, 2012

Posted on by Manon Ress

Once again a diverse group of NGOS spoke clearly against the treaty for broadcasting organizations. To quote CCIA “While the world’s governments can certainly create legal instruments with any language in them that they wish, surely granting copyright in objects that don’t exist would be difficult to justify to the wider public”. Well, the delegates are now back into informal sessions so the public in fact does not even know why they still work on more rights, (more road blocks) to solve signal piracy, already a crime I believe in most countries!

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Quick Update on WIPO SCCR 24 Meeting on The treaty for People with Disabilities

Posted on by Manon Ress

Today is day 5 of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights which for over 2 years has been discussing the first ever treaty that would involved a limitation to copyright, in these case to benefit blind people as well as people with other disabilities. It is day 2 of plenary discussions regarding the treaty for people with disabilities.

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BRCA gene case: James D. Watson, co-founder of double helix structure, rejects patentability of DNA and other amici filings

Posted on by Krista Cox

Background
On Friday, July 20, 2012, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will re-hear the case Association for Molecular Pathology, et. al. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, et. al. This case, involving the patent eligibility of DNA–specifically claims directed at two human genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, associated with an individual’s susceptibility to breast cancer–has been litigated for three years now and has resulted in fractured rulings and widely varying reasoning.

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Egypt questions EU on the applicability of the three-step test to Article 10.2 of the Berne Convention

Posted on by Thiru

The first day of the 24th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) has gone into full swing with a textual proposal tabled by Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay on limitations and exceptions for educational and research institutions, and a textual proposal submitted by Brazil on L&Es for educational and research institutions.

The live stream audio capture of these proceedings can be found here: http://www.streamtext.net/player?Event=WIPO

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SCCR24: Opening statement of the African Group

Posted on by Thiru

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has convened the 24th Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) which will take place from 16 July 2012 to 25 July 2012 at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Ambassador Darlington Mwape (Zambia) is chairing the 24th SCCR. The morning session of the SCCR witnessed opening remarks by group coordinators. The following statement was delivered by Egypt on behalf of the African Group.

African Group Opening Statement
WIPO SCCR 24

Mr. Chairman

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