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<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Colleagues:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial size=2>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:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:President@whitehouse.gov">President@whitehouse.gov</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial size=2>The post
follows:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><SPAN lang=EN>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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?</P>
<P>The USA, that's who. The Obama administration'</P>
<P>s 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.</P>
<P>Update: Also opposing rights for disabled people: Australia, New Zealand, the
Vatican and Norway.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>..</P>
<P>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,"</P>
<P>where treaties would protect consumer interests, rather than expand rights
for copyright owners.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>Obama Joins Group to Block Treaty for Blind and Other Reading Disabilities
COPYRIGHT EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS Twitter feed for #sccr18</P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </P>
<P><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial size=2>With Kind
Regards,</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=862184018-29052009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P><SPAN class=862184018-29052009>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>***********************</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Daniel B. Frye, J.D.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Associate Editor</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Braille Monitor</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>National Federation of the
Blind</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Office of the President</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>1800 Johnson Street</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Baltimore, Maryland 21230</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Telephone: (410) 659-9314 Ext.
2208</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mobile: (410) 241-7006</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fax: (410) 685-5653</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Email: <A
href="mailto:DFrye@nfb.org">DFrye@nfb.org</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Web Address: <A
href="http://www.nfb.org/">www.nfb.org</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Voice of the Nation's
Blind"</FONT></DIV></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>