[blindlaw] [bllaw] International Copyright Concerns for BlindReaders

Tue Jun 16 22:39:34 UTC 2009

Hi Ray,
There has been some very good posts and detailed information regarding the
WIPO Treaty on the discussion list blindwebbers at yahoogroups.com .  If you
would like, I could forward you the relevant posts.

Best regards, Mark

Mark Stimson, Ph.D.
Document Accessibility Expert
www.DocumentAccessibility.com
www.AccessnIgenuity.com
-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Frye, Dan
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 5:49 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List; david.andrews at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] [bllaw] International Copyright Concerns for
BlindReaders

Ray:
My understanding is that the issue was preserved for revisiting during
the next gathering of this body scheduled for sometime in late fall,
November I believe. This was regarded as a success in the international
context, since originally the effort was to have the topic entirely
removed from further discussion. If I receive any additional information
about how interested people can help advocate on this matter prior to
the next gathering, I'll pass it along. Chris Danielsen also follows
this issue fairly closely.

Dan Frye 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of ray wayne
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 7:48 PM
To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org; blindlaw at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] [bllaw] International Copyright Concerns for
BlindReaders

Does anyone have updated information on the status of this matter? My
chapter members received this e-mail, and our meeting is this Wednesday.
The question will invariably come up. 
Thanks in advance. 
Ray Wayne
PS: Please know that I am requesting information only-I do not, REPEAT,
DO NOT, wish to instigate a flurry of commentary about the Obama
administration! 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frye, Dan" <DFrye at nfb.org> (by way of David Andrews
<dandrews at visi.com>)
To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
Date: Friday, May 29, 2009 17:42:27
Subject: [bllaw] International Copyright Concerns for Blind Readers

>
>
> 
> Colleagues:
> 
> I am circulating a lengthy post regarding efforts to limit an 
> international treaty that would allow for rules that parallel existing

> domestic exceptions to the copyright law for blind people to govern in

> an international context. Please help bring pressure on authorities by

> letting President Obama know that these provisions would be useful, 
> and ask him to direct his representatives to abandon their hostile 
> posture toward aspects of the treaty that would be helpful. You may 
> Email your concerns to:
> 
> <mailto:President at whitehouse.gov>President at whitehouse.gov
> 
> The post follows:
> 
> 
> Right now, in Geneva, at the UN's World Intellectual Property 
> Organization, history is being made. For the first time in WIPO 
> history, the body that creates the world's copyright treaties is 
> attempting to write a copyright treaty dedicated to protecting the 
> interests of copyright users, not just copyright owners.
> 
> At issue is a treaty to protect the rights of blind people and people 
> with other disabilities that affect reading (people with dyslexia, 
> people who are paralyzed or lack arms or hands for turning pages).
> This should be a slam dunk: who wouldn't want a harmonized system of 
> copyright exceptions that ensure that it's possible for disabled 
> people to get access to the written word?
> 
> The USA, that's who. The Obama administration'
> 
> US negotiators have joined with a rogue's gallery of rich country 
> trade representatives to oppose protection for blind people. Other 
> nations and regions opposing the rights of blind people include Canada

> and the EU.
> 
> Update: Also opposing rights for disabled people: Australia, New 
> Zealand, the Vatican and Norway.
> 
> Activists at WIPO are desperate to get the word out. They're tweeting 
> madly from the negotiation (technically called the 18th session of the

> Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights) publishing 
> editorials on the Huffington Post, etc.
> 
> Here's where you come in: this has to get wide exposure, to get cast 
> as broadly as possible, so that it will find its way into the ears of 
> the obscure power-brokers who control national trade-negotiators.
> 
> I don't often ask readers to do things like this, but please, forward 
> this post to people you know in the US, Canada and the EU, and ask 
> them to reblog, tweet, and spread the word, especially to government 
> officials and activists who work on disabled rights. We know that WIPO

> negotiations can be overwhelmed by citizen activists -- that's how we 
> killed the Broadcast Treaty negotiation a few years back -- and with 
> your help, we can make history, and create a world where copyright law

> protects the public interest.
> 
> I am attending a meeting in Geneva of the World Intellectual Property 
> Organization (WIPO). This evening the United States government, in 
> combination with other high income countries in "Group B" is seeking 
> to block an agreement to discuss a treaty for persons who are blind or

> have other reading disabilities.
> 
> The proposal for a treaty is supported by a large number of civil 
> society NGOs, the World Blind Union, the National Federation of the 
> Blind in the US, the International DAISY Consortium, Recording for the

> Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), Bookshare.Org, and groups representing 
> persons with reading disabilities all around the world.
> 
> The main aim of the treaty is to allow the cross-border import and 
> export of digital copies of books and other copyrighted works in 
> formats that are accessible to persons who are blind, visually 
> impaired, dyslexic or have other reading disabilities, using special 
> devices that present text as refreshable braille, computer generated 
> text to speech, or large type. These works, which are expensive to 
> make, are typically created under national exceptions to copyright law

> that are specifically written to benefit persons with disabilities.
> 
> ...
> 
> The opposition from the United States and other high income countries 
> is due to intense lobbying from a large group of publishers that 
> oppose a "paradigm shift,"
> 
> where treaties would protect consumer interests, rather than expand 
> rights for copyright owners.
> 
> The Obama Administration was lobbied heavily on this issue, including 
> meetings with high level White House officials. Assurances coming into

> the negotiations this week that things were going in the right 
> direction have turned out to be false, as the United States delegation

> has basically read from a script written by lobbyists for publishers, 
> extolling the virtues of market based solutions, ignoring mountains of

> evidence of a "book famine" and the insane legal barriers to share 
> works.
> 
> Obama Joins Group to Block Treaty for Blind and Other Reading 
> Disabilities COPYRIGHT EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS Twitter feed for 
> #sccr18
> 
> 
> 
> With Kind Regards,
> 
> 
> ininininininininininininininininininininininininininininininininininin
> ininininininininin*
> Daniel B. Frye, J.D.
> Associate Editor
> The Braille Monitor
> National Federation of the Blind
> Office of the President
> 1800 Johnson Street
> Baltimore, Maryland 21230
> Telephone: (410) 659-9314 Ext. 2208
> Mobile: (410) 241-7006
> Fax: (410) 685-5653
> Email: <mailto:DFrye at nfb.org>DFrye at nfb.org
> Web Address: <http://www.nfb.org/>www.nfb.org "Voice of the Nation's 
> Blind"
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