Re: [Commons-Law] [A2k] WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India's Visually Impaired Community
Via: "Pescod, Dan"
Forgive me if I am missing something, but I see nothing in this item to
suggest that Gurry backed the treaty proposal at all, even ambiguously.
Rather, it seems that he was silent on that and used the umbrella term
"VIP initiative" to describe work to help increase access to books for
blind and partially sighted people.
Regards,
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: a2k-admin@lists.essential.org
[mailto:a2k-admin@lists.essential.org] On Behalf Of Pranesh Prakash
Sent: 12 November 2009 11:48
To: A2K Discussion List; Commons Law
Cc: Nirmita Narasimhan; Kajal Bhardwaj; Dipendra Manocha
Subject: [A2k] WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India's
Visually Impaired Community
Dear all,
WIPO seems to be giving all kinds of signal that the Treaty for the
Blind is a very step forward for them.
Regards,
Pranesh
http://www.ag-ip-news.com/GetArticle.asp?Art_ID=7785&lang=en
12/11/2009 07:07 GMT
ag-IP-news
WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India's Visually Impaired
Community
GENEVA - The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director
General Francis Gurry met representatives of India's visually impaired
(VIP) community at a conference on the "Right to Read of persons with
print disabilities and copyright challenges".
According to WIPO, the conference organized by the VIP community in
cooperation with the Government of India in New Delhi on November 11,
2009, and reaffirmed WIPO's commitment to supporting international
attempts to improve access to copyright protected works by visually
impaired persons (VIPs).
"Let me assure you that this is a priority area for the World
Intellectual Property Organization," Gurry said.
More than 314 million blind or visually impaired people around the world
stand to benefit from a more flexible copyright regime adapted to
current technological realities. Individuals with reading impairment
often need to convert information into Braille, large print, audio,
electronic and other formats using assistive technologies.
It is estimated that only 5% of published books in developed countries
are converted into formats accessible to the reading impaired. In
India, however, only 0.5% of works are published in accessible formats.
This has an adverse impact on the educational and employment
opportunities of the country's nearly 70 million reading impaired
citizens.
While, today, sighted individuals enjoy unprecedented access to
copyright-protected content, in some contexts, social, economic,
technological and legal factors, including the operation of copyright
protection systems, can combine to seriously impede access to such works
by the blind or other reading impaired persons. Widespread use of
digital technologies, in particular, has prompted reconsideration of the
question of how to maintain a balance between the protection available
to copyright owners, and the needs of specific user groups, such as
reading impaired persons.
During the meeting, members of the Indian VIP community endorsed WIPO's
role in steering the VIP Initiative at the international level. Gurry
reaffirmed his personal commitment to the specific needs of this
community, particularly in developing and least-developed countries: He
said innovation and affordability are key considerations when addressing
the specific requirements of the VIP in developing countries.
To move forward on these questions, Gurry noted, we will need to take
join ranks with UN partners, namely the World Health Organization (WHO),
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), among
others, to make best use of the expertise and skills that are available.
The ITU for example, is particularly well placed to provide important
technological inputs in the field of telephony and communications and to
foster public-private partnerships in this area.
Gurry welcomed India's readiness to test the prototype guidelines for
trusted intermediaries recently adopted by the WIPO Stakeholders'
Platform. The Director General said that WIPO was ready to explore
options to support training/capacity building activities in India for
VIPs within the framework of the VIP initiative.
The New Delhi meeting reviewed a series of operational arrangements that
could enable fast track access to certain copyright-protected works,
particularly educational materials, in local Indian languages. It also
focused on the need to incorporate the necessary flexibilities in the
Indian Copyright Act 1957 for the benefit of print impaired persons.
Representatives of key organizations such as the National Institute for
the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), the Regional Resource Centre of the
Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY), the Centre for Internet
and Society and the Federation of Publishers' & Booksellers'
Associations in India presented their views and concerns on the subject.
The meeting was opened to a larger audience of authors, publishers,
collective management organizations and librarians, among others.
India's former Ambassador of India to the United Nations in Geneva,
Swashpawan Singh, honorary advisor on the VIP Initiative to the Director
General of WIPO, also participated in the discussions.
Forgive me if I am missing something, but I see nothing in this item to
suggest that Gurry backed the treaty proposal at all, even ambiguously.
Rather, it seems that he was silent on that and used the umbrella term
"VIP initiative" to describe work to help increase access to books for
blind and partially sighted people.
Regards,
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: a2k-admin@lists.essential.org
[mailto:a2k-admin@lists.essential.org] On Behalf Of Pranesh Prakash
Sent: 12 November 2009 11:48
To: A2K Discussion List; Commons Law
Cc: Nirmita Narasimhan; Kajal Bhardwaj; Dipendra Manocha
Subject: [A2k] WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India's
Visually Impaired Community
Dear all,
WIPO seems to be giving all kinds of signal that the Treaty for the
Blind is a very step forward for them.
Regards,
Pranesh
http://www.ag-ip-news.com/GetArticle.asp?Art_ID=7785&lang=en
12/11/2009 07:07 GMT
ag-IP-news
WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India's Visually Impaired
Community
GENEVA - The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director
General Francis Gurry met representatives of India's visually impaired
(VIP) community at a conference on the "Right to Read of persons with
print disabilities and copyright challenges".
According to WIPO, the conference organized by the VIP community in
cooperation with the Government of India in New Delhi on November 11,
2009, and reaffirmed WIPO's commitment to supporting international
attempts to improve access to copyright protected works by visually
impaired persons (VIPs).
"Let me assure you that this is a priority area for the World
Intellectual Property Organization," Gurry said.
More than 314 million blind or visually impaired people around the world
stand to benefit from a more flexible copyright regime adapted to
current technological realities. Individuals with reading impairment
often need to convert information into Braille, large print, audio,
electronic and other formats using assistive technologies.
It is estimated that only 5% of published books in developed countries
are converted into formats accessible to the reading impaired. In
India, however, only 0.5% of works are published in accessible formats.
This has an adverse impact on the educational and employment
opportunities of the country's nearly 70 million reading impaired
citizens.
While, today, sighted individuals enjoy unprecedented access to
copyright-protected content, in some contexts, social, economic,
technological and legal factors, including the operation of copyright
protection systems, can combine to seriously impede access to such works
by the blind or other reading impaired persons. Widespread use of
digital technologies, in particular, has prompted reconsideration of the
question of how to maintain a balance between the protection available
to copyright owners, and the needs of specific user groups, such as
reading impaired persons.
During the meeting, members of the Indian VIP community endorsed WIPO's
role in steering the VIP Initiative at the international level. Gurry
reaffirmed his personal commitment to the specific needs of this
community, particularly in developing and least-developed countries: He
said innovation and affordability are key considerations when addressing
the specific requirements of the VIP in developing countries.
To move forward on these questions, Gurry noted, we will need to take
join ranks with UN partners, namely the World Health Organization (WHO),
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), among
others, to make best use of the expertise and skills that are available.
The ITU for example, is particularly well placed to provide important
technological inputs in the field of telephony and communications and to
foster public-private partnerships in this area.
Gurry welcomed India's readiness to test the prototype guidelines for
trusted intermediaries recently adopted by the WIPO Stakeholders'
Platform. The Director General said that WIPO was ready to explore
options to support training/capacity building activities in India for
VIPs within the framework of the VIP initiative.
The New Delhi meeting reviewed a series of operational arrangements that
could enable fast track access to certain copyright-protected works,
particularly educational materials, in local Indian languages. It also
focused on the need to incorporate the necessary flexibilities in the
Indian Copyright Act 1957 for the benefit of print impaired persons.
Representatives of key organizations such as the National Institute for
the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), the Regional Resource Centre of the
Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY), the Centre for Internet
and Society and the Federation of Publishers' & Booksellers'
Associations in India presented their views and concerns on the subject.
The meeting was opened to a larger audience of authors, publishers,
collective management organizations and librarians, among others.
India's former Ambassador of India to the United Nations in Geneva,
Swashpawan Singh, honorary advisor on the VIP Initiative to the Director
General of WIPO, also participated in the discussions.
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