On the Right to Read for Blind Persons and others with print disabilities

As reported by KEI Online, below is Ambassador Gero's statement at the recent WIPO SCCR/20 meeting (June 21-24, 2010 in Geneva) on the subject of a possible treaty dealing with rights for the blind. It is rather unusual for an Ambassador to attend a working level meeting such as this. John Gero was very active on IP matters at the very early stages of the FTA, NAFTA and the WTO agreements beginning in the mid to latter part of the 1980's. It is unclear why he chose to personally deliver Canada's main intervention - but, at the very least, it would suggest that Canada regards this as a very important issue.

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Intervention — International instrument on access to protected materials by persons with print disabilities

Thank you Mr. Chairman

Canada is pleased once again to address this Committee on the important issue of access to work by the print disabled. We would like to thank Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Mexico – the co-sponsors of the Visually Impaired Persons (VIP) Treaty Proposal – for their contribution to this discussion. We would also like to thank the U.S., the European Union, and the Africa Group for their respective proposals that address access to print materials by persons with print disabilities, which have been recently submitted to this Committee.

Canada would like to take the opportunity to reconfirm our interest in finding expeditious and pragmatic solutions for access to works by the print disabled. Today, Canada would like to offer our perspective on the general principles that should apply to a possible instrument. We would also like to highlight how some potential reforms to Canada’s domestic regime could positively contribute to the work of this Committee.

In terms of some considerations that could serve the work towards an international instrument, Canada would like to note the following:

First, the element of flexibility is vitally important. It is Canada’s position that any solution to the problems of access by print disabled persons to copyright works should allow for a variety of means for domestic production of accessible material. Members States should have the choice of using exceptions, compulsory licensing or conditional exceptions. Providing Member States with flexibility in this regard is important as some Member States have laws that provide different types of limitations and exceptions for different types of accessible materials. Although there are some Member States here that suggest a mandatory exception is necessary, it is Canada’s view that enabling Member States to implement provisions which reflect local realities by having more than one type of limitation or exception, including for different types of accessible material, would not prevent but actually enhance the international exchange of such materials.

In this regard, a mandatory exception in all countries to allow for the import and export of special format materials does not seem necessary. It is important to recognize and account for the reality that not all Member States have identical laws. Moreover, it is also important to provide Member States with the ability to account for cultural differences and not to restrict their capacity to innovate in their legal framework.

With respect to the various proposals that have been tabled, we note that the Consensus Instrument proposed by the U.S. and the Joint Recommendation proposed by the EU allow for flexibility in laws. Canada sees this as an advantage for it recognizes effective regimes which are already in place, including those which may require payment in certain circumstances.

Another important consideration is that of the trusted intermediary. In order for the discussion to progress, it will be key to address the role and obligations of trusted intermediaries. Canada takes note that some proposals introduce the concept of trusted intermediaries. Canada would welcome a discussion on the range of circumstances in which these organizations could play a role.

Aside from Canada’s preference for flexibility, we view the ability of individuals with print disabilities to import special format materials for their own use without necessarily going through a domestic organization, such as a trusted intermediary, to be an important feature of the copyright modernization bill recently introduced in Canadian parliament that we will now turn to briefly describe.

As stated at the beginning of our intervention, Canada would also like to highlight how some potential reforms to Canada’s domestic regime could positively contribute to the work of this Committee. Earlier this month, a copyright modernization bill was introduced in the Canadian Parliament. This bill implements the rights and protections under the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, it creates new exceptions for educators, librarians, consumers and innovators and it strengthens the tools for rights owners to fight piracy. More to the point of our current discussion, the bill also explicitly addresses the issue of the import and export of special format materials for the print disabled.

With respect to importation, Canadian law – and this principle has existed in our law for many years – provides that it is only necessary to look at the limitation or exception in Canadian law to determine whether material can be imported. The copyright modernization bill clarifies for print disabled persons the existing rule that copyright materials can be imported into Canada if they could have been made in Canada under one of the exceptions in our law. This includes the importation of special format material for the perceptually disabled including importation by individuals with print-related disabilities.

We think that this example from Canadian law demonstrates that the importation of special format materials can be achieved in a variety of ways.

We would also like to note that this principle on importation may already exist in the laws of a number of Member States.

With respect to exportation, the bill in front of the Canadian parliament also has specific measures related to the export of special format materials. It includes a number of provisions to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between the interests of the parties involved. First, exportation is limited to special format versions of works by Canadian authors or authors of the country of importation. Second, the bill allows for the possibility of a royalty collected for export material even though there is a complete exception for domestic production of special format materials. Third, export from Canada can only be done by organizations, not by individuals; and the importer recognized by the law can only be an organization and not an individual. And fourth, the bill allows for the possibility of requiring a contract between the Canadian exporting organization and the foreign importing organization. A contract of this type could stipulate, for example, that the copies could only be used by persons with print disabilities. In this sense, this provision is aligned with the concept of trusted intermediaries by ensuring that the distribution is limited to persons with print disabilities.

Of note, the bill allows the export of special format materials to foreign countries regardless of what the law is in the foreign country and regardless of whether the foreign country has a limitation or exception for the creation of special format materials.

Although the bill does not allow for the export of third country material, any international instrument should establish rules and principles under which third country material can be exported.

In conclusion, we hope that Canada’s perspective on general principles and the approaches set out in our new copyright modernization bill are helpful in advancing the dialogue on this issue.

In terms of next steps, Canada does not see a consensus instrument or a joint recommendation as excluding the possibility of a treaty. Indeed, it can be considered as an important building block.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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BTW, KEI is very active on this issue and has lots of useful resources and references. Start here.

This issue is not only important for those who are blind or have other reading disabilities. It is increasingly being seen as a a crucial test of whether WIPO can broker a meaningful multilateral agreement, or whether we will continue to see more erosion of multilateralism and the United Nations spirit. This is indeed what we are seeing in the controversial ACTA negotiations and countless bilateral and plurilateral agreements, such as the proposed CETA (Canada Europe Trade Agreement).

Those who are blind or who have print disabilities should at least have the right to read. Many of them have to struggle to do everyday things that most people take for granted. This right should not be controversial.

It would be very unfortunate if certain vested interests in the copyright world play politics in Geneva at the expense of blind and otherwise print disabled persons. The WIPO Secretariat will no doubt do its best to see a positive and concrete result - which most advocates for the blind would consider to be nothing less than a treaty. "Soft law" is probably not good enough any more on this issue.

But if major countries or blocs, spurred on by major copyright trade associations or acting for other reasons, frustrate efforts for this worthy cause, WIPO's ability to do what is right, just and necessary will be limited.

HK

PS - here is IP Watch's excellent report on how a "golden opportunity" was missed.

Kindle Issue Flares Up Again

As reported in Publishers Weekly:

Some 200 people with print disabilities--physical impairments that restrict their ability to read print--protested in front of the Authors Guild headquarters in New York today, rallying against the Guild's attempt to get Amazon to disable the Kindle 2's text-to-speech function. The protestors, led by the National Federation of the Blind, chanted “We want e-books!” “Literacy for all of us!” and “Two, four, six, eight, the Authors Guild discriminates!”

See the rest of this story. It isn't going away soon.

See also Abraham Lloyd's Tweets reported here by Jamie Love and the use of the rather catcy expression:

“Stop the Greed! We want to Read!”

National Federation for the Blind and the Authors Guild

Here's the American NFB (National Federal of the Blind press release re Kindle 2.0 and the Authors Guild statements.

Re the Authors Guild, the NFB says:

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “The National Federation of the Blind supports all technologies that allow blind people to have better access to the printed word, including the ability of devices like the Kindle 2 to read commercial e-books aloud using text-to-speech technology. Although the Authors Guild claims that it supports making books accessible to the blind, its position on the inclusion of text-to-speech technology in the Kindle 2 is harmful to blind people. The Authors Guild says that having a book read aloud by a machine in the privacy of one’s home or vehicle is a copyright infringement. But blind people routinely use readers, either human or machine, to access books that are not available in alternative formats like Braille or audio. Up until now, no one has argued that this is illegal, but now the Authors Guild says that it is. This is absolutely wrong. The blind and other readers have the right for books to be presented to us in the format that is most useful to us, and we are not violating copyright law as long as we use readers, either human or machine, for private rather than public listening. The key point is that reading aloud in private is the same whether done by a person or a machine, and reading aloud in private is never an infringement of copyright.

Re Amazon, they say:

“Amazon has taken a step in the right direction by including text-to-speech technology for reading e-books aloud on its new Kindle 2,” Dr. Maurer continued. “We note, however, that the device itself cannot be used independently by a blind reader because the controls to download a book and begin reading it aloud are visual and therefore inaccessible to the blind. We urge Amazon to rectify this situation as soon as possible in order to make the Kindle 2 a device that truly can be used both by blind and sighted readers. By doing so, Amazon will make it possible for blind people to purchase a new book and begin reading it immediately, just as sighted people do.”

This all sounds pretty sensible to me. Hopefully, Canada will be active in promoting a WIPO treaty for rights of the blind.

HK

Read My Lips: Don't Move Your Lips While Reading in Public

Perhaps we need an annual award for the most excessive copyright claim of the year. Surely a contender for 2009 would be the Authors Guild assertion that the new Kindle device from Amazon that reads a book you have bought and paid for out loud via computer synthesized voice infringes copyright by creating a derivative work and a performance in public. We are not talking about the unlicensed use of an actor's or author's reading. We are talking about a computer synthesized speech to text device, which is old technology. Here's an article on the Author's Guild assertion.

The Authors Guild should not be taken too lightly, however. They led the charge against Google for its book digitization project. In this case, however, they appear to be in a realm of fantasy.

It didn't take long for bloggers and reporters to begin to wonder what if they are right.

Here's just some of what might happen:

1. It would be illegal to read bed time stories to your children. They will have to read to themselves, once they learn to read. Which may be difficult in the Authors Guild scheme of things.

2. It would generally be illegal to read out loud. Anywhere, but particularly in a public place. If the Authors Guild is right about what is “in public”, everyone should avoid even moving their lips when reading on trains, planes, buses and in parks or on the beach. A good lip reader might be able to free ride. Come to think of it, it's a good idea in any event not to move your lips when you read.

On a seriously serious note, the Author's Guild assertions would render illegal technology long relied upon by the blind and visually handicapped.

HK

WIPO Copyright Activity

The week long SCCR meeting at WIPO has just concluded and William New reports on it in some detail here.

The proposed broadcasters' rights treaty is still on the table, as is the propsoed audiovisual performances treaty.

The good news is that there appears to be solid interest in exceptions and limitations, and a possible treaty concerning the rights and needs of blind persons.

The latter is a concrete project that could have a positive outcome in a finite time, and would be a good example of what WIPO can do well and why a revitalized WIPO is essential to a balanced international IP system.

HK