A press release from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) last week reported on a meeting of Representatives of WIPO member states, reading-impaired organizations, publishers and a technology consortium which discussed how the intellectual property system can best meet the needs of visually impaired people by improving timely access to copyright-protected content. According to this item, "The proliferation of digital technologies has added a new dimension to the question of how to maintain a balance between the protection available to right owners, and the needs of specific user groups, such as reading impaired persons. More than 160 million blind or visually impaired people around the world stand to benefit from a more flexible copyright regime adapted to the technological realities of the day.The 1709 Blog will endeavour to keep readers up-to-date on this issue. Checks will also be made from time to time on the www.visionip.org website, to see if it is more accommodating to the needs of the partially sighted than it is at present.
At a time when the sighted are enjoying unprecedented ease of access to copyright-protected content, a combination of social, economic, technological and legal factors, including the operation of copyright protection systems, are converging to impede access to this content by the blind or other print-disabled persons. Speakers examined the needs of visually impaired persons as they relate to intellectual property, particularly in terms of how to improve timely access to copyright-protected content.
Opening the meeting, WIPO Director General, Mr. Francis Gurry, announced that, in the framework of its visually impaired persons (VIP) initiative, WIPO will be launching a website - http://www.visionip.org/ – dedicated to attracting support, exchanging views, and disseminating information to all interested parties.
Ambassador Mr Swashpawan Singh, Advisor to Mr. Gurry on the VIP initiative, pointed out that the continued progress in this area would depend upon the commitment and support of member states and on their ability to take on board the interests of all stakeholders. He added that “it is clear that without contravening the legitimate interests of right holders, greater quantities of copyright-protected material – both analog and digital – could be made available in accessible formats and disseminated across multiple jurisdictions in a timely way, to enhance opportunities for the literacy, independence and productivity of VIPs.” WIPO’s task is to facilitate a process which could lead to the desired outcomes within a reasonable time frame.
... Mr Chris Friend, Strategic Objective Leader Accessibility, World Blind Union ... was confident that the cooperative efforts between publishers and the visually impaired sector would result in more accessible materials. He underlined that a binding international instrument on the needs of the visually impaired would complement those efforts by ensuring, for instance, the cross-border circulation of books in accessible formats. Blind readers in 19 countries across Latin America would have access to Braille or audiobooks produced by the organization for the blind in Spain (ONCE). The Francophone Africans would do the same with the French collections from Canada, France, Belgium and Luxemburg and Switzerland. The Portuguese organizations could share with Brazil, Angola and Mozambique.
Mr Herman Spruijt, President, International Publishers Association (IPA) said that the publishing sector was willing to “contribute its fair share” in finding solutions to the important issue of disability access and highlighted the complexities of dealing with different needs and interests of multiple stakeholders in a fast-moving stream of technological development. He urged parties to be flexible in achieving a common goal rather than creating an artificial polarization. He commended the consultative approach adopted by WIPO to move forward with the VIP initiative ...".
"WIPO’s top copyright negotiating forum [The first team, rather than the reserves?] has agreed “to continue without delay” its work on facilitating the access of the blind, visually impaired (VIP) [Great acronym. Now we'll all have to find another term for 'very important person'] and other reading-disabled persons to copyright-protected works. This subject - as well as broader questions of limitations and exceptions to copyright law as they relate to libraries, archives and educational activities - is at the heart of current work of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR).Documents relating to the SCCR meeting, including a Chairman’s summary, are available here.
Discussions at the SCCR meeting from May 25-29, 2009 centered on a series of practical measures to facilitate access to copyright-protected materials by reading impaired persons, including a stakeholders’ platform, a key aim of which is to develop solutions to make published works available in accessible formats in a reasonable time frame [This is starting to sound a bit like Google Book ...]. All participants supported moving forward with this work [Not what I'd heard informally. If this is true, why is it necessary to record it here?].
A proposal was also submitted by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay regarding a draft treaty prepared by the World Blind Union (WBU). The SCCR decided to continue these discussions at its next session later this year to give member states time to reflect on the best way to move forward.
The SCCR noted progress in the work on the stakeholders’ platform and encouraged the WIPO secretariat to continue to advance this initiative. This platform is designed to help secure access for disabled persons to copyright-protected works. Two meetings convened under the auspices of WIPO in January and April 2009 brought together major stakeholders, including representatives of copyright holders and reading impaired persons, to explore the specific needs, concerns, and possible approaches to facilitating access to works in formats suitable for people with reading impairment.
The SCCR also addressed the issue of the protection of broadcasting organizations and requested the secretariat to organize a series of national and regional meetings. These meetings are to focus on the objectives, specific scope and object of protection of a possible new international instrument that would update the international protection of broadcasting organizations on a signal-based approach. The secretariat will also commission a study on the socio-economic dimension of the unauthorized use of signals [Have we suddenly changed the subject here, or are we talking about a signal-based approach to broadcasts and the VIPs?].
Moreover, the SCCR called for consultations to break the deadlock relating to negotiations on the international protection of performances in audiovisual media. The secretariat will also organize a series of national and regional seminars as well as background documentation on the issue [ditto]".
From Howard Knopf's Excess Copyright weblog comes this timely summary of the state of play -- such as it is -- in the quest for an international treaty that would provide for exceptions to copyright in respect of the visually impaired. Howard writes: "WIPO needs a new and positive milestone and the world needs a newly renewed WIPO. The pieces and the players are in place, particularly Francis Gurry, the new DG at WIPO who has fully earned the significant respect and confidence he enjoys. If ever there was an issue around which well-intentioned countries could rally, a treaty for the rights of the blind could be that issue".I well recall the suggestion of copyright exceptions in favour of the visually impaired being met with hostility in some quarters back in the 1980s, the line being this: if the visually impaired are expected to pay for their housing, their clothing, their food and their drink, why should they be allowed to help themselves to authors' works for nothing? This objection misses the mark. An exception in favour of the visually impaired means that they obtain access to works that might not otherwise be open to them -- but the existence of an exception does not automatically imply that the copyright owner(s) will lose out. The construction of a simple licensing scheme in such circumstances should not be beyond the wit of mankind.
