[governance] URGENT, deadline Dec 4: reply comments on Treaty for the Visually Impaired

Fri Dec 4 10:40:23 EST 2009

Dear all

If your organization would like to support this join letter, pls. send  
an email to Malini Aisola from KEI, malini.aisola at keionline.org

Regards,
Katitza

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Malini Aisola <malini.aisola at keionline.org>
> Date: December 4, 2009 10:26:31 AM EST
> To: Katitza Rodriguez <katitza at datos-personales.org>
> Cc: Manon Ress <manon.ress at keionline.org>
> Subject: Re: URGENT, deadline Dec 4: reply comments on Treaty for  
> the Visually Impaired
> Reply-To: malini.aisola at keionline.org
>
> Yes, please. Thank you so much!!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Katitza Rodriguez <katitza at datos-personales.org>
> To: malini.aisola at keionline.org
> Cc: Manon Ress <manon.ress at keionline.org>
> Subject: Re: URGENT, deadline Dec 4: reply comments on Treaty for the
> Visually Impaired
> Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 10:25:55 -0500
>
> Can I forward this?
>
> On Dec 4, 2009, at 10:20 AM, Malini Aisola wrote:
>
>> We have just received an extension until midnight, December 5, 2009  
>> at
>> 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the deadline to file  
>> comments.
>> Please let me know if you would like to sign on to this letter.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Malini Aisola <malini.aisola at keionline.org>
>> Reply-to: malini.aisola at keionline.org
>> To: ip at tacd.org
>> Subject: URGENT, deadline Dec 4: reply comments on Treaty for the
>> Visually Impaired
>> Date: Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:07:13 -0500
>>
>> Dear colleagues at TACD,
>>
>> KEI, US PIRG and CPATH invite you to support a short, joint letter
>> from consumer groups
>> to a consultation that the US government is organizing on a proposal
>> supported by the World Blind Union, KEI and some TACD members.
>>
>> This treaty proposal is formally sponsored by the  governments of
>> Brazil, Ecuador
>> and Paraguay and will be considered at the next session of the WIPO
>> Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). The
>> proposal
>> is for a treaty of copyright exceptions and limitations to facilitate
>> access and sharing of works for people who are blind or have other
>> reading disabilities. You can find more information about this treaty
>> proposal in our website: http://keionline.org/r2r
>>
>> In preparation for the next meeting of the WIPO SCCR in December, the
>> Copyright Office and USPTO are currently requesting comments from
>> interesting parties on this treaty proposal:
>> http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sccr/
>>
>> All comments are available at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sccr/
>> Reply comments are due by tomorrow, Friday, December 4.
>>
>> Libraries, disability groups and others have filed strong statements
>> in
>> support of the treaty separately.
>>
>> The publishers and groups like the Association of American Publishers
>> (AAP),  Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), National Music
>> Publishers' Association (NMPA)  and Recording Industry Association of
>> America (RIAA ) are opposing this treaty using the argument that this
>> will set precedent in extending limitations and exception to  
>> copyright
>> beyond the disabled community and beyond exemptions that already  
>> exist
>> in the US. They are suggesting that voluntary licensing mechanisms
>> as a
>> substitute for a treaty.
>>
>> We are now hoping to galvanize support from consumer groups on this
>> very
>> important issue through a joint submission in support of the treaty.
>> Both international and US groups can sign alike.
>>
>> Below is the text of the submission which is supported by U.S. PIRG,
>> KEI
>> and CPATH.
>>
>> Please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to sign on  
>> to
>> the letter as the deadline is tomorrow, December 4 (US time). Please
>> feel free to contact me with any questions.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Malini
>>
>>
>> ************************************
>>
>> Reply comments of U.S. PIRG, CPATH, XXXXXX to the Copyright Office  
>> and
>> the USPTO regarding the WIPO draft proposal to facilitate access to
>> copyrighted works for persons, who are blind or have other reading
>> disabilities, in response to the Federal Register Notice of October
>> 13,
>> 2009.
>>
>>
>> The following comments are a reply to the comments filed by Steven J.
>> Metalitz on behalf of the Association of American Publishers (AAP),
>> Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA), Motion Picture
>> Association of America (MPAA), National Music Publishers' Association
>> (NMPA) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which
>> will
>> be referred to as the publisher group, or TPG.
>>
>>
>>
>> As US Consumer groups representing sighted and not sighted
>> consumers, we
>> are writing to express our support for a WIPO treaty for persons who
>> are
>> blind and have other reading disabilities.
>>
>> With regard to the comments by TPG, we reject the suggestion that
>> voluntary measures by publishers can be a substitute for a treaty,  
>> for
>> the following reasons.
>>
>> 1. There is no evidence that every publisher of new books,
>> periodicals,
>> pamphlets and other copyrighted materials will soon begin to
>> voluntarily
>> license works to publishers of accessible works. To the contrary, few
>> works are now licensed voluntarily, and Random House recently
>> decided to
>> turn off the text-to-speech function in the Kindle 2 electronic
>> bookreader. Indeed, even if there were an astronomical increase in  
>> the
>> number of licensed works, it would not be complete or equal to what  
>> is
>> accessible to someone who is not visually impaired. Even in very
>> optimistic scenarios, people with reading disabilities will always
>> need
>> exceptions to achieve more equal access to works.
>>
>>
>> 2. Estimates of the number of published books protected by copyright
>> vary, but there are without any doubt millions of books that are out
>> of
>> print, and for which it is extremely difficult or impossible to
>> identify
>> and locate copyright owners and negotiate voluntary licenses to use
>> works. This problem is even more complicated when one considers the
>> need
>> to obtain the global rights to works, which may be held by different
>> publishers.
>>
>> 3. The main point of the proposed WIPO treaty for reading  
>> disabilities
>> is to facilitate the cross border import and export of works created
>> under exceptions, a topic not addressed at by TPG. The World Blind
>> Union
>> and other disabilities groups correctly argue that a treaty will
>> provide
>> the largest benefit -- by reducing legal uncertainty, and providing a
>> common set of procedures for publishers of accessible works.
>>
>> We fully and enthusiastically support the World Blind Union and call
>> upon the Administration to support negotiations for a new WIPO treaty
>> that will facilitate the cross border sharing of accessible works,  
>> and
>> ensure that blind and other persons with reading disabilities have  
>> the
>> right to make accessible copies of copyrighted works.
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Malini Aisola
>> Knowledge Ecology International
>> 1621 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20009
>> malini.aisola at keionline.org|Tel: +1.202.332.2670|Fax: +1.202.332.2673
>>
>
> -- 
> Malini Aisola
> Knowledge Ecology International
> 1621 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20009
> malini.aisola at keionline.org|Tel: +1.202.332.2670|Fax: +1.202.332.2673
>

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