Industry Proposals Contrary To Spirit Of Marrakesh Treaty, Libraries Say 02/09/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)An international group of librarians has warned that rights holder organisations in some countries are promoting provisions that restrict and impede the access envisaged by the Marrakesh Treaty providing exceptions to copyrighted works for visually impaired persons. The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, adopted in 2013 introduced limitations and exceptions to copyright rules to promote access to knowledge to benefit of blind and visually impaired persons. The treaty is entering into force this year. Now, however, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), says provisions are being pushed at the national level that undermine the treaty. The library federation in a statement expressed concern that the principle objectives of the Marrakesh Treaty are being impeded by measures promoted by rights holder organisations. These include record-keeping for accessible copies made and shared, the imposition of royalty payments and a process to check the marketplace for accessible copies in an environment where no copies are available to buy or licence. Such provisions are said by IFLA to prolong the time for accessible copies to enter the marketplace and add to the price of suitably formatted books, as well as limit authorised entities’, such as libraries, to serve their users. The statement argues that “…obliging use of licensing solutions would drain the time and resource of authorised entities, to the expense of people who are visually impaired or print-disabled.” This would only add to the current “book famine”, where books in accessible format are already in severe shortage, they said. And it would make it more difficult for countries to ratify the treaty, the group added. The treaty is due to entry into force on 30 September 2016, which represents a step forward, IFLA said, but it appears as though there are counterforces that will slow the realisation of access for all. IFLA is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. Alexandra Nightingale is a researcher at Intellectual Property Watch. She completed her Bachelors in Law at the University of Sussex and holds an LLM degree in International Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. During her Masters, she developed a strong interest in Intellectual Property, particularly patents and the aspects relating to global health. Her research interests now also include geographical indications and trademarks. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related "Industry Proposals Contrary To Spirit Of Marrakesh Treaty, Libraries Say" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
john e miller says 02/09/2016 at 6:09 pm WIPO recently released a flyer entitled “Main Provisions and Benefits of the Marrakesh Treaty (2013)” in which it states: ” … are made available to the 285 million persons in the world who are blind, visually impaired and print disabled …” http://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4047&plang=EN WIPO cites the World Health Organization Factsheet on Visual Impairment and Blindness as source for the above statement. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/# However the WHO factsheet makes no reference to ‘print disabled’ persons and states ” …. 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide ,..” It is clear that the WHO figure of 285 million does not include all those who are print disabled for reasons other than visual impairment and includes those Beneficiaries as defined in Article 3 of the Marrakesh Treaty who have perceptual, reading, or physical type print disabilities. The RNIB in a 2014 UK Copyright Consultation stated that, in the UK, one in eight has a print disability. The University of Michigan Dyslexia Center estimates that 5-10% of the population may have dyslexia. The CNIB in Canada estimates that 10% of Canadians have a print disability. So clearly, to say as does WIPO, that 285 million persons in total worldwide have a print disability is a gross estimate of the total eligible Marrakesh Treaty Beneficiary population. Reply
john e miller says 29/09/2016 at 11:56 pm Follow-up: As of 29 SEP 2016, WIPO has modified the above flyer to read: “Each year, of the millions of books published worldwide, only 1–7 percent are made available to the 285 million persons in the world who are blind and visually impaired, 90 percent of whom live in low-income settings in developing countries.” … such that the 285 million WHO figure makes no reference to persons who are ‘print disabled’. Reply
john e miller says 02/09/2016 at 6:15 pm (Correction) WIPO recently released a flyer entitled “Main Provisions and Benefits of the Marrakesh Treaty (2013)” in which it states: ” … are made available to the 285 million persons in the world who are blind, visually impaired and print disabled …” http://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4047&plang=EN WIPO cites the World Health Organization Factsheet on Visual Impairment and Blindness as source for the above statement. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/# However the WHO factsheet makes no reference to ‘print disabled’ persons and states ” …. 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide ,..” It is clear that the WHO figure of 285 million does not include all those who are print disabled for reasons other than visual impairment and includes those Beneficiaries as defined in Article 3 of the Marrakesh Treaty who have perceptual, reading, or physical type print disabilities. The RNIB in a 2014 UK Copyright Consultation stated that, in the UK, one in eight has a print disability. The University of Michigan Dyslexia Center estimates that 5-10% of the population may have dyslexia. The CNIB in Canada estimates that 10% of Canadians have a print disability. So clearly, to say as does WIPO, that 285 million persons in total worldwide have a print disability is a gross underestimate of the total eligible Marrakesh Treaty Beneficiary population. Reply