Some have written to ask what the Canada position is on the proposed WIPO treaty on copyright exceptions for persons who are blind or have other disabilities. For the first 3.5 days of the meeting, Canada did not say anything. Continue Reading
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| From left to right, USPTO Director David Kappos, President Obama, Pablo Lecuona of Tiflolibros and Melanie Brunson of the ACB |
Egypt, on behalf of the African Group, delivered the following general intervention at the beginning of WIPO discussions at the 25th Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). This was taken from the WIPO live stream of SCCR negotiations: http://www.streamtext.net/player?event=WIPO
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| Maryanne Diamond and Chris Friend of the WBU listen to opening interventions at SCCR 25 |
Update: November 17, 2012, 10:27pm: The report was removed from the RSC website on Saturday afternoon.. Paul Teller, Executive Director of the RSC issued the following statement:
After three days, the WIPO intersessional negotiations on copyright exceptions for persons with disabilities adjourned. On July 26, 2012, the SCCR negotiating text (SCCR 24/9) was 26 pages long, with 4051 words, and included 56 brackets, and 20 alternatives. The Final document on Friday (copy here) evening was 26 pages, with 47 brackets, and 22 alternatives.
The October 18 version of the text is available, here. From the October 17 version, the number of brackets as gone from 65 to 61. The number of alternatives has increased from 24 to 26. Both numbers are higher than the July 26 version of the text, which had 56 brackets and 23 alternatives.
In recent and current negotiations over copyright norms, the U.S., the European Union and some other high income countries have asked for provisions in the agreement that limit copyright limitations and exceptions to some type of “three-step-test.”
This is an elaboration on the 3-step test in multilateral agreements. The 1996 WCT Copyright treaty has bad language on the 3-step test, but the WCT is not now part of the TRIPS agreement, and is only subject to dispute resolution via trade agreements outside of the WTO, like the TPPA.
If the WCT is referenced under the general provisions to the TPPA, you also get the 3-step test in the TPPA, subject, however, to the agreed upon statement regarding Article 10, which is helpful.
