Statement by His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi
Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN and Other International Organizations in Geneva at World Intellectual Property Organization Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities Marrakech (Morocco)
18 June 2013
Mr. President,
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More more Marrakesh briefing notes: /r2r/marrakesh June 17, 2013 A handful of countries (the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Argentina) have legislation restricting the use of exemptions where a commercial version of the work is available in an accessible format.… Continue Reading →
On April 19, 2013, the US Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the USPTO to “express concerns about the ongoing meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) regarding visually impaired persons (VIPs).
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| David Hirschmann, CEO of the Chamber’s GIPC, signed the letter |
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2009 SCCR 18, May 25 to May 29, 2009. At this meeting, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay introduced formally the proposal that the World Blind Union had drafted in 2008. Proposal by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay, Relating to Limitations and Exceptions:… Continue Reading →
The following are four US Department of State cables discussing the status of Thailand as regards the USTR Special 301 review. KEI recently received the cables from the US Department of State in response to an earlier FOIA request.
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The WTO TRIPS Council has just approved an extension of TRIPS Obligations for Least Developed Countries until July 1, 2021, a new eight year extension. The new extension comes with some restrictions, but provides more freedom than the previous extension, which had a widely criticized and now eliminated “no rollback” clause. The decision stops well short of what the LDCs had proposed.
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Statement of Knowledge Ecology International in Support of the Unlocking Technology Act (H.R. 1892)
June 9, 2013
The bipartisan Unlocking Technology Act (H.R. 1892), introduced by Representative Lofgren (D-CA) and co-sponsored by Representatives DeFazio (D-OR), Eshoo (D-CA), Holt (D-NJ), Massie (R-KY), and Polis (D-CO) takes the welcome step of scaling back the overprotection of “digital locks” and promoting consumer choice and competition.
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The WIPO web page on the Marrakesh diplomatic conference. (Link here).
The current negotiating text is: VIP/DC/3 REV.
All Previous draft treaty texts
Briefing Materials
Much of the April negotiations on the treaty for copyright exceptions for persons with disabilities was spent discussing the issue of countries that are not members of the WTO, or the Berne Convention, or countries classified by the UN as least developed countries (LDCs), and currently not bound by the TRIPS agreement provisions on copyright.
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