Today is day 5 of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights which for over 2 years has been discussing the first ever treaty that would involved a limitation to copyright, in these case to benefit blind people as well as people with other disabilities. It is day 2 of plenary discussions regarding the treaty for people with disabilities.
After a quick call for transparency by Zimbabwe “Mr. Chair transparence is key to everything. Everyone has the right to know who proposed what” , the committee has adjourned for now. The plan is to have informal (forget transparency?) from 3 to 5pm. The Plenary will resume then and the delegates will continue to work on “authorized entities” definition, translation and other issues until late (9pm?). There are plans to work on saturday afternoon and possibly on Sunday too. There are no time for NGOS to make statements.
So far very few surprises:
The EU (and the US) are trying to have narrow definitions of what is a “work” yesterday and what really constitutes an authorized entity today.
The EU is trying to add a 3 step test article (everywhere?)
But, it looks as if many delegations are pushing back and want an effective treaty for people with disabilities…now.
India, Nigeria, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Egypt are impressive. We know now that China is also supportive of the treaty, as well as the Swiss government (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsPQg1VqwTA&feature=plcp) and Australia. Canada is not “engaged” (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5KTFVYrlEo&feature=plcp)
There is apparently a (secret) document that was produced in May during informal negotiations. Many delegates do not seem to have had it in their hands and thus the text being discussed is Working document on an international instrument on limitations and exceptions for VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS/persons with print disabilities SCCR/23/7 DATE: December 16, 2011
available here http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=22210
So far there have been discussions on the
Preamble
ARTICLE A DEFINITIONS
“work”
“authorized entity”
Article E bis (the 3 step test proposed by the EU)
Coming up are:
ARTICLE C NATIONAL LAW EXCEPTIONS ON ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES
ARTICLE D CROSS-BORDER EXCHANGE OF ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES
ARTICLE E IMPORTATION OF ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES
ARTICLE F OBLIGATIONS CONCERNING TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES
ARTICLE G RELATIONSHIP WITH CONTRACTS
ARTICLE H RESPECT FOR PRIVACY
Article I on the interpretation of the 3 step test
The discussions regarding these articles is of course highly dependant on what emerged regarding the definition and scope of the treaty.
The transcript is at http://www.streamtext.net/player?Event=WIPO
The interviews conducted by KEI: http://www.youtube.com/user/KEIWashDC
Twitter: #sccr24
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