[fcb-l] FW: [leadership] Obama Sides With Blind in Copyright-Treaty Debate

[Edwards, Paul]

This is good news.

Paul


-----Original Message-----
From: leadership-bounces at acb.org [mailto:leadership-bounces at acb.org] On
Behalf Of Marlaina Lieberg
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 11:48 AM
To: leadership at acb.org; wcb-l at wcbinfo.org
Subject: [leadership] Obama Sides With Blind in Copyright-Treaty Debate

Copied from:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/obama-blind-treaty/


Obama Sides With Blind in Copyright-Treaty Debate
By  David Kravets

The Obama administration announced Tuesday it supports loosening 
international copyright
protections to enable cross-border distribution of special-format
reading 
materials
for the blind, a move that puts it at odds with nearly all of U.S.
industry.
The government announced its support for the underlying principle of the

WIPO Treaty
for Sharing Accessible Formats of Copyrighted Works for Persons Who are 
Blind or
Have other Reading Disabilities.
The announcement was made in Geneva
 (.pdf) before a subcommittee of the the World Intellectual Property 
Organization,
which has about 180 members.
The move comes as a broad spectrum of American enterprise, ranging from 
major software
makers and book publishers to motion picture and music companies, have 
opposed the
proposed international treaty that
would make books more accessible to the blind
. The chief complaint is that the treaty creates a bad precedent by 
loosening copyright
restrictions, instead of tightening them as have every other
international 
copyright
treaty.
"We recognize that some in the international copyright community believe

that any
international consensus on substantive limitations and exceptions to 
copyright law
would weaken international copyright law," Justin Hughes, a Department
of 
Commerce
senior adviser, told the WIPO on Tuesday. "The United States does not
share 
that
point of view."
But the administration was careful Tuesday not to alienate U.S. industry

even as
it supported the blind and visually impaired. For example, Hughes 
acknowledged that
the government was willing to strengthen international copyright laws in

other regards.
"The United States is committed to both better exceptions in copyright
law 
and better
enforcement of copyright law," Hughes said. "Indeed, as we work with 
countries to
establish consensus on proper, basic exceptions within copyright law, we

will ask
countries to work with us to improve the enforcement of copyright. This
is 
part and
parcel of a balanced international system of intellectual property."
Toward that end, the United States is one of the lead negotiators of a 
proposed international
accord that the European Union suggested was too friendly to business. A

leaked EU
document connected to the Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement
suggested 
that
the Obama administration's "
overriding object" is to "facilitate the continued development of
industry
."
The documents suggest the United States might want ISPs around the world
to 
punish
suspected, repeat downloaders with a system of "graduated response" -
code 
for a
three-strikes policy that results in digital copyright offenders
eventually 
being
disconnected from the internet, with the ISP alone deciding what
constitutes 
infringement
and fair use.
Regarding the treaty for the blind, the proposal would sanction the 
cross-border
sharing of DRM-protected digitized books - without payment to the 
publisher - that
tens of thousands of blind and visually disabled people read with
devices 
and tools
like the Pac Mate, Book Port and Victor Reader.
Many WIPO nations, most in the industrialized world including England,
the 
United
States and Canada, have copyright exemptions that usually allow
nonprofit 
companies
to market copyrighted works without permission. As it now stands, none
of 
the nations
may allow persons outside their borders to access these works, which are

usually
doled out for little or no charge by nonprofit groups.
The treaty seeks to free up the cross-border sharing of the books for
the 
blind.
Usually, they are published in a universal Daisy format, which includes 
features
like narration and digitized Braille. It could take a year or more
before an 
international
consensus might be reached.


Warmly,

Marlaina

I use to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure! 

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