copyright

The digitization of Brazilian Cultural Collections has become a high priority issue, asking for an analysis about the limits imposed by the current Copyright Law, the opportunities created by new technologies, the existing standards, as well as the strategies to create an effective network between organizations and existing projects.

3D Trade-Human Rights-Equitable Economy, a Geneva-based NGO, and IBON Foundation submitted a paper entitled The Philippines: Impact of copyrightⁱ rules on access to education to the Pre-Sessional Working Group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child last June 2009.

According to a press release issued by Microsoft last week to announce its "Consumer Action Day" against counterfeit softwareⁱ, "consumers want action", and are relying on Microsoft to "give people a voice in the fight against software counterfeiting". Whilst we do agree that counterfeiting of any kind can endanger consumers when they believe they are purchasing original products, we have to question Microsoft's credentials to represent consumers' interests here.

The highlight of the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCRⁱ) of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPOⁱ) has been the proposal today by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay of a WIPO Treaty for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons that was drafted by the World Blind Union and presented for discussion at the previous SCCR meeting last November.

Consumers International (CIⁱ) today released the results of its inaugural Intellectual Property (IP) Watch List: a global snapshot of how national IP and copyrightⁱ laws serve or subvert consumer interests.

This research considers how copyrightⁱ limitations and exceptions affect consumers. In some cases new limitations and exceptions for consumers have been introduced (as with Australia's personal copying exceptions, allowing for example format-shifting of music from CD to MP3 player), and in other cases they have been removed (for example, following US pressure, the Philippines repealed a compulsory licence for exorbitantly-priced textbooks).

The idea is to examine the impact of consumer-friendly limitations and exceptions on industry. Possible countries for the case study include:

by James Love (KEI)

Over the past several weeks there have been a several cases where some well motivated and knowledgeable persons about copyrightⁱ policy have expressed criticism of an effort by WIPOⁱ to negotiate a treaty for persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities, on the grounds that this is not ambitious enough, and a larger all inclusive treaty on limitations and exceptions should be the target.

As a new Administration has just taken office in Washington, and the
European Union renews its institutions in a few months, what should
the political agenda be for intellectual property?

This was the subject of discussion during a two day conference hosted
by the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACDⁱ) on the 12th & 13th
January 2009 in Washington, DC:

The main outcome of CIⁱ's work on Access to Knowledge - Copyright as a Barrier to Accessing Books, Journals and Teaching Material was a 65-page report on Copyright and Access to Knowledge: Policy Recommendations on Flexibilities in Copyright Laws.