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It has been more than two years since the United States signed the
Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who
Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, a historic
international agreement that will allow blind Americans to gain access to
millions of books in Braille, audio, and other formats produced
abroad.<br>
<br>
Essentially, the treaty promotes uniformity in international copyright
law so that producers of accessible books throughout the world can allow
readers in any country to access their collections. So if a blind student
in this country needs access to a book in a foreign language that she is
studying, and that book isn't available from a United States producer,
she will be able to get it from a producer in the country where the
language is spoken.<br>
<br>
Although this treaty has been signed by the United States, it has not yet
been ratified by the Senate as required by our Constitution. This isn't
because of Senate inaction, but because the White House has not yet
submitted the treaty for ratification. The holdup is due to preparation
of the "ratification package," a set of documents that outlines
how the treaty will be implemented.<br>
<br>
The National Federation of the Blind believes that further delay is
unnecessary and unacceptable. For that reason, I have written to
President Obama to urge his administration to give the blind of America
more books for Christmas by submitting the ratification package to the
Senate before the year is out. The full text of my letter follows.<br>
<br>
December 11, 2015<br>
<br>
The Honorable Barrack Obama<br>
President of the United States<br>
The White House<br>
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW<br>
Washington, DC 20500<br>
<br>
Re: Urgent Need to Forward the Marrakesh Treaty to the Senate<br>
<br>
Dear President Obama:<br>
<br>
I last wrote to you on September 10 of this year, emphasizing the urgent
need to send the Marrakesh Treaty to the Senate without delay. We are
greatly concerned that the ratification package still has not been
released and that the window of opportunity to ratify this life-changing
agreement within your term is closing. We urge you in the strongest
possible terms to direct your administration to transmit the treaty
before the end of 2015.<br>
<br>
Due to the general practice that is followed in developing a ratification
package of this nature, we in the public have not seen any of the
language contained in the draft ratification and implementing legislative
packages. Nevertheless, as is also customary in these proceedings, rumors
abound regarding language being considered. We wish to address two issues
that we understand have been delaying the process as of late.<br>
<br>
One issue concerns to whom authorized entities in the United States may
export accessible-format works. Apparently there has been a debate about
whether authorized entities here in America should be restricted to
sending accessible-format copies only to other contracting parties of the
Marrakesh Treaty. Others have apparently argued that our authorized
entities ought to be able to transmit accessible-format copies to any
authorized entity or beneficiary person who meets the requisite
definitions in the treaty. We urge the broadest implementation of the
Marrakesh Treaty so that our collection of accessible books and materials
can be shared with the blind and print disabled throughout the world who
desperately need access to information. As long as an authorized entity
carries out its obligations under the treaty, there is virtually no
concern that an accessible-format copy will end up in the wrong hands or
otherwise be abused.<br>
<br>
Second, we have also been given to understand that some are advocating
for greater restrictions on our authorized entities that go beyond that
which the treaty requires. We are confident that the definition of
authorized entity contained in the treaty text protects rights holders
and establishes a system designed to serve blind and print-disabled
individuals adequately. Following a formal definition of "authorized
entity," Article 2, Subsection C is descriptive. It says, "An
authorized entity establishes and follows its own practices:<br>
<br>
(i) to
establish that the persons it serves are beneficiary persons;<br>
(ii) to limit
to beneficiary persons and/or authorized entities its distribution and
making available of accessible-format copies;<br>
(iii) to discourage
the reproduction, distribution and making available of unauthorized
copies; and<br>
(iv) to maintain due care
in, and records of, its handling of copies of works, while respecting the
privacy of beneficiary persons in accordance with Article 8."<br>
<br>
The above quoted section of the treaty is designed to give authorized
entities wide latitude in fulfilling their defined service role. This
arrangement was the result of hotly contested negotiations, and
represents a compromise reached among all stakeholders to this process,
including the blind, authorized entities, and rights holders. There must
not be additional requirements on United States authorized entities that
are more restrictive than existing Section 121 provisions of the US
Copyright Act. The result would be to discourage our authorized entities
from importing and exporting accessible materials and therefore allow the
book famine to persist.<br>
<br>
Specifically, the additional burdens being considered for our authorized
entities appear to deal with the issue of record keeping. Although
Marrakesh describes authorized entities as maintaining records, it
contains no prescription as to how this is to be done. Authorized
entities must have this flexibility to maintain their own procedures and
protect the privacy of their beneficiaries. In fact, Article 8 of the
treaty requires that the privacy of beneficiaries be fully protected.
Neither rights holders nor anyone else should be able to obtain specific
information about who is receiving accessible copies or what works they
are reading. Privacy is a critical hallmark of any type of library
system, whether for the blind or not.<br>
<br>
We understand that the rights holders are concerned about piracy and
other infringement of copyright. However, the language already in the
treaty adequately protects these interests. Marrakesh would require that
authorized entities be empowered to distribute materials only to
beneficiary persons or agencies serving them. If a would-be authorized
entity fails to observe this standard, rights holders are free to
exercise their right to bring legal action to cease the infringement and
to recover appropriate damages caused by the infringement. Rights holders
are far better protected against infringement under Marrakesh as opposed
to the normal distribution of their works to general consumers.<br>
<br>
This is not only a theoretical point but one that has been proven over
time. In the United States, we have lived under a system of
Marrakesh-like exceptions for nearly twenty years through our Chafee
Amendment. There is absolutely no proof that the substantial numbers of
authorized entities that operate here in America have in any way
increased piracy or have fostered a higher rate of copyright
infringement.<br>
<br>
President Obama, there are many imagined barriers related to blindness,
but one of the real barriers is the woeful lack of information in an
accessible format. Compared to the rest of the world, we have an advanced
system of producing accessible-format copies, yet blind and
print-disabled Americans have access to only a tiny percentage of the
information available here and throughout the world. It is imperative
that we open up the flow of information to the blind and print disabled
and end the book famine! Send the Marrakesh Treaty to the Senate
now!<br>
<br>
I thank you for your considered attention to this matter. Please do not
hesitate to contact us if we can be of any assistance to you on this or
other matters. I would note that the Christmas holiday is very near and
that moving this treaty would be a great gift to advance access to books
by the blind. In that spirit, on behalf of the blind of this nation I
would offer you and your family the warmest of holiday wishes and the
hope that 2016 is a year of good health and tremendous joy for the Obama
family.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
Mark A. Riccobono, President<br>
National Federation of the Blind<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-riccobono/president-can-give-blind-americans-this-for-christmas_b_8811918.html">
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-riccobono/president-can-give-blind-americans-this-for-christmas_b_8811918.html</a>
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