The Hindu
EU stalls treaty talks to allow copyright waiver for print disabilities
NEW DELHI, July 25, 2012
Priscilla Jebaraj
The European Union is holding up a treaty to allow books and other printed
works to be converted into a format accessible to the visually impaired and
other print disabled people without seeking the permission of the copyright
holder.
India, and most other developing countries, strongly support such a legally
binding treaty currently being negotiated at a World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) meeting in Geneva. However, non-governmental organisation
sources at that summit say that the EU is stalling the treaty by placing
unreasonable restrictions on how copyrighted works are to be converted, and by
whom. The EU office in Delhi and Brussels did not respond to a request for
comment on their position.
"[The treaty] would allow organisations working for the blind to import and
export accessible works without seeking the copyright holder's permission,
since very little money is spent in developing countries on converting books
into accessible formats, while they are much more readily available elsewhere,"
according to Pranesh Prakash of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and
Society who is attending the summit as an NGO member. If the treaty is not
finalised by Wednesday, when the meeting ends, disabled people could be forced
to wait till 2014 for their next chance.
Last week, Indian delegate G.R. Raghavender pleaded with negotiators to
finalise the treaty without further delay "so that we won't go back, especially
the Indian delegation won't go back empty-handed, facing the 15 million blind
people in India, which is almost 50 percent of the world blind population, that
is 37 million."
In fact, the treaty will benefit a much larger group of print-disabled,
including those who suffer from motor disabilities which prevent them from
holding a book, or learning disabilities such as dyslexia, or autism, which
make it hard to read. There are approximately 70 million print-disabled people
in India.
Accessible formats would include Braille, electronic text and audio versions of
books, making Western publishers' jittery about piracy fears. Hence, some
countries are demanding stringent tracking mechanisms and legal requirements
that activists say will effectively block access to disabled people in
developing countries - where more than 85 per cent of them live.
"An instrument that subjects the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms by persons
with visual impairments to market forces and bureaucratic practices will not
work," Mr. Prakash said, in his statement to WIPO delegates. "In India, our
Parliament recently passed an amendment to our copyright law that grants
persons with disabilities, and those who are working for them, a strong yet
simply-worded right to have equal access to copyrighted works as sighted
persons."
In fact, the EU Parliament had given its unanimous approval to the treaty in
February 2012. "It would be a democratic travesty if the EU's representatives
here today posed any problems to a clear road map for a binding international
treaty, especially by posing unrealistic proposals with regards to authorised
entities and other issues very far from consensus positions in the WIPO and in
clear contradiction with the aims of the World Blind Union," said David
Hammerstein, a representative of American and European consumer organisations,
making a statement at the Geneva meeting.
With thanks and regards
(Rajesh Asudani)
Assistant General Manager
Reserve Bank of India
Nagpur
Cell: 9420397185
o: +91 712 2806846
R: 2591349
(In youth you want things, and then in middle-age you want to want them.)
________________________________
Notice: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are
addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use,
review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this
e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have
received this email by error, please notify us by return e-mail or telephone
and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. The
recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of
viruses. The Reserve Bank of India accepts no liability for any damage caused
by any virus transmitted by this email.
Search for old postings at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
To unsubscribe send a message to
[email protected]
with the subject unsubscribe.
To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please
visit the list home page at
http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
