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Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hope Lewis
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Extract

On June 27, 2013, delegates to a Diplomatic Conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (Marrakesh Treaty). Governmental delegates and international disability rights advocates hope that the new instrument will increase access to information for millions of visually impaired people around the world, especially in developing countries.

Type
International Legal Documents
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 52 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 1309 - 1320
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2013

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References

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the World Intellectual Property Organization Web site (visited November 16, 2013), http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/vip_dc/vip_dc_8_rev.pdf.

1 World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO], Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, June 27, 2013, http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/diplconf/en/vip_dc/vip_dc_8.pdf [hereinafter Marrakesh Treaty]; WIPO, Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities (2013), http://www.wipo.int/dc2013/en/.

2 World Health Organization, Visual impairment and blindness (2013), http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/.

3 WIPO, Limitations and Exceptions—Access to Books for the Visually Impaired (2014), http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/briefs/limitations.html (quoting World Blind Union figures).

4 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, U.N. Doc. A/RES/217(III) at art. 27(2) (Dec. 10, 1948), http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ [hereinafter UDHR] (declaring the right to “protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author”).

5 WIPO, Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Sept. 9, 1886, http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=283693.

6 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Apr. 15, 1994, Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, Annex 1C, 1869 U.N.T.S. 299, 33 I.L.M. 1197 (1994), http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/27-trips.pdf.

7 WIPO, WIPO Copyright Treaty, Dec. 20, 1996, http://www. wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=295157. 8 WIPO, WIPO Administered Treaties: Contracting Parties, Marrakesh VIP Treaty, http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?lang_en&treaty_id=843.

9 At a meeting of the European Parliament in Brussels on December 17, 2013, advocacy organizations called on European Union officials to begin the ratification process. See, e.g., EU Reporter Correspondent, Blind Leaders Call for Ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty, EUReporter (Dec. 19, 2013), http://www.eureporter.co/education/2013/12/19/blind-leaders-call-for-ratification-of-the-marrakesh-treaty/.

10 See Marrakesh Treaty, supra note 1, at 2. 11 Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities art. 5, G.A. Res. 61/106, U.N. Doc. A/RES/61/106 (Dec. 13, 2006), http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml.

12 Id. art. 8.

13 Id. art. 24.

14 Id. art. 27.

15 Id. art. 29.

16 Id. art. 30.

17 UDHR, supra note 4.

18 Id. arts. 1, 2.

19 Id. art. 26.

20 Id. art. 27(1).

21 See generally Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development, Gender and ICT (2014), http://unapcict.org/ecohub/resources/browse-resources/gender (discussing the role of gender in information and communications technology, particularly from the perspective of women).

1 Agreed statement concerning Article 2(a): For the purposes of this Treaty, it is understood that this definition includes such works in audio form, such as audiobooks.

2 Agreed statement concerning Article 2(c): For the purposes of this Treaty, it is understood that “entities recognized by the government” may include entities receiving financial support from the government to provide education, instructional training, adaptive reading or information access to beneficiary persons on a non-profit basis.

3 Agreed statement concerning Article 3(b): Nothing in this language implies that “cannot be improved” requires the use of all possible medical diagnostic procedures and treatments.

4 Agreed statement concerning Article 4(3): It is understood that this paragraph neither reduces nor extends the scope of applicability of limitations and exceptions permitted under the Berne Convention, as regards the right of translation, with respect to persons with visual impairments or with other print disabilities.

5 Agreed statement concerning Article 4(4): It is understood that a commercial availability requirement does not prejudge whether or not a limitation or exception under this Article is consistent with the three-step test. 6 Agreed statement concerning Article 5(1): It is further understood that nothing in this Treaty reduces or extends the scope of exclusive rights under any other treaty.

7 Agreed statement concerning Article 5(2): It is understood that, to distribute or make available accessible format copies directly to a beneficiary person in another Contracting Party, it may be appropriate for an authorized entity to apply further measures to confirm that the person it is serving is a beneficiary person and to follow its own practices as described in Article 2(c).

8 Agreed statement concerning Article 5(4)(b): It is understood that nothing in this Treaty requires or implies that a Contracting Party adopt or apply the three-step test beyond its obligations under this instrument or under other international treaties.

9 Agreed statement concerning Article 5(4)(b): It is understood that nothing in this Treaty creates any obligations for a Contracting Party to ratify or accede to the WCT or to comply with any of its provisions and nothing in this Treaty prejudices any rights, limitations and exceptions contained in the WCT.

10 Agreed statement concerning Article 6: It is understood that the Contracting Parties have the same flexibilities set out in Article 4 when implementing their obligations under Article 6.

11 Agreed statement concerning Article 7: It is understood that authorized entities, in various circumstances, choose to apply technological measures in the making, distribution and making available of accessible format copies and nothing herein disturbs such practices when in accordance with national law.

12 Agreed statement concerning Article 9: It is understood that Article 9 does not imply mandatory registration for authorized entities nor does it constitute a precondition for authorized entities to engage in activities recognized under this Treaty; but it provides for a possibility for sharing information to facilitate the cross-border exchange of accessible format copies.

13 Agreed statement concerning Article 10(2): It is understood that when a work qualifies as a work under Article 2(a), including such works in audio form, the limitations and exceptions provided for by this Treaty apply mutatis mutandis to related rights as necessary to make the accessible format copy, to distribute it and to make it available to beneficiary persons.