From: Malini Aisola <malini.aisola@keionline.org>

Date: December 4, 2009 10:26:31 AM EST

To: Katitza Rodriguez <katitza@datos-personales.org>

Cc: Manon Ress <manon.ress@keionline.org>

Subject: Re: URGENT, deadline Dec 4: reply comments on Treaty for the Visually Impaired

Reply-To: malini.aisola@keionline.org

Yes, please. Thank you so much!!

-----Original Message-----
From: Katitza Rodriguez <katitza@datos-personales.org>
To: malini.aisola@keionline.org
Cc: Manon Ress <manon.ress@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@keionline.org>

Reply-to: malini.aisola@keionline.org

To: ip@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@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@keionline.org|Tel: +1.202.332.2670|Fax: +1.202.332.2673