[NFBNJ] United States of America Joins WIPO’s Marrakesh Treaty as 50th Member In Major Advance for the Global Blind Community

[joe ruffalo]

Greetings to all!
GREAT NEWS!
Received from Andy Smith, NFBNJ Technology Division board member.
Note: Shortly, you will be receiving a press release from the NFB 
highlighting the Marrakesh Treaty, ending the book famine!
Warmly,
Joe


We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference
Joe Ruffalo, President
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
973 743 0075
nfbnj1 at verizon.net
www.nfbnj.org
Raising Expectations To Live The Life You Want!
Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.
Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking
www.carshelpingtheblind.org
or call 855 659 9314

****

        Joe, you might consider forwarding this on.
Marrakesh Treaty – Ending the “book famine” 
<https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2019/article_0002.html>



Geneva, February 8, 2019
PR/2019/828

The United States of America has joined WIPO’s fast-growing Marrakesh Treaty 
as its 50th member, adding a major global publishing center to the Treaty 
that promotes the increased worldwide availability of texts specially 
adapted for use by persons with visual or print impairments.

The U.S. is home to the largest number of English-language texts in 
accessible formats, such as Braille, for use by people living with print or 
visual disabilities. The Treaty eases the creation and international 
transfer of accessible texts among its 50 contracting parties, which cover 
78 countries (including the 28-member European Union).

Video: Video 
<https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2019/article_0002.html#wipoModal1> 
(Watch on YouTube <https://youtu.be/ANi9FQ6l0P4>)

U.S. President Donald J. Trump signed the Marrakesh Treaty ratification 
document, which was received by WIPO Director General Francis Gurry from 
Mark Cassayre, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations 
in Geneva, on February 8, 2019.


WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and Mark Cassayre, Chargé d’Affaires of 
the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva (photo: WIPO/Berrod)
When the Treaty takes effect in the U.S. in three months, some 550,000 
accessible texts will become immediately available to visually impaired 
persons living in Marrakesh Treaty-adherent countries, according to figures 
from the U.S.-based National Federation of the Blind.

“The Marrakesh Treaty is WIPO’s fastest-growing treaty and we hope it 
becomes a universal one soon, so visually impaired people in every corner of 
the globe can more easily benefit from learning and culture no matter where 
it is created,” said Mr. Gurry. “The U.S. already houses the world’s largest 
repository of accessible English-language material, representing a major 
increase  in the global resource base for visually impaired people living in 
countries that have joined the Marrakesh Treaty,” he said.

“I’m proud of American leadership and the USPTO’s efforts in the negotiation 
of the Marrakesh Treaty, and the opportunities that our ratification creates 
for the blind and visually impaired community in the United States and 
around the world,” said Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 
(USPTO). “This treaty establishes an important mechanism to both protect 
intellectual property rights and expand access to information and 
 resources.”

“The United States’ formal membership in the Marrakesh Treaty marks a major 
achievement for our country and a significant positive step forward for the 
millions of persons who are blind and visually impaired throughout the 
world,” said Karyn A. Temple, Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of 
the United States Copyright Office. “The United States will now join our 
fellow nations in promoting greater accessibility to print materials around 
the globe.”

“The National Federation of the Blind seeks the removal of all artificial or 
unnecessary barriers to access to knowledge by the blind,” said Mark 
Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “That is why 
we championed the Marrakesh Treaty and fought for its signing and 
ratification by the United States. Today’s deposit of the US ratification 
instrument represents the culmination of that effort, but even more 
importantly, it represents greater access to the world’s literature and 
knowledge for blind people in America and across the world. We are therefore 
pleased to celebrate this historic moment with our blind brothers and 
sisters everywhere.”

“We pause to celebrate this moment as the United States formally joins the 
Marrakesh Treaty," said Maria A. Pallante, President and CEO of the 
Association of American Publishers. “Having worked so tirelessly with so 
many talented partners to realize a better legal framework for accessible 
formats, publishers now salute the many readers throughout the world who are 
blind, visually impaired or otherwise living with print disabilities. 
Congratulations and happy reading!"

Marrakesh Treaty – Ending the “book famine”

Contracting parties to the “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to 
Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise 
Print Disabled <https://www.wipo.int/marrakesh_treaty/en/>” adopt national 
law provisions that permit the production of books in accessible formats, 
such as braille, e-text, audio or large print, by organizations known as 
authorized entities that serve people who are print disabled.  It also 
allows for the exchange of such accessible texts across national boundaries, 
all without requesting authorization from the copyright owner.

The World Health Organization estimates that 253 million are living with 
visually impairments around the world, with the majority located in 
lower-income countries.

The Treaty was adopted on June 27, 2013, at a diplomatic conference 
organized by WIPO and hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco in Marrakesh. The 
treaty entered into force on September 30, 2016, three months after it 
gained the necessary 20 ratifications or accessions by WIPO members.

ABC - The Accessible Books Consortium

WIPO and its partners created the Accessible Books Consortium 
<https://www.accessiblebooksconsortium.org/> (ABC) in 2014 to help implement 
the Marrakesh Treaty at a practical level. Its activities include the ABC 
Global Book Service, with 320,000 titles currently available for 
cross-border exchange under the Treaty’s terms. This number will eventually 
grow to 370,000 after the Treaty enters into force in the U.S., when titles 
can be added from the U.S. National Library Service for the Blind and 
Physically Handicapped (NLS), a long-standing member of ABC.

Forty-seven authorized entities have joined the ABC Global Book Service, 
which contains accessible books in 76 languages. The majority of the Book 
Service’s titles are available in high-quality, human-narrated audiobooks.

ABC also works to promote the creation of “born-accessible” texts that can 
be immediately used by people with visual impairments at the time of first 
publication, further streamlining the process to bring the world’s knowledge 
and culture into the hands of people living with visual impairments.



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190208/64c225cc/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: w_1888_2019_845.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 89881 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190208/64c225cc/attachment.jpg>