Background

The United States is a Member State of the World Intellectual Property Organization and an active member of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). An on-going focus of the SCCR is the topic of limitations and exceptions to exclusive rights, including limitations and exceptions for visually impaired persons. At the next meeting in Geneva (December 14-18th 2009), the SCCR will discuss a treaty proposal introduced by the delegations of Brazil, Ecuador, and Paraguay, which would mandate certain exceptions and other practices regarding the cross-border import, export and qualified distribution of copyrighted works for the blind, visually impaired, and other reading disabled persons, without permission of the rights holders. The treaty proposal is based on text that was prepared under the auspices of the World Blind Union.

At this time, in order to allow further opportunity for interested persons to provide their views, the Copyright Office and the USPTO are seeking comments on 1) how the treaty proposal would interact with existing U.S. law; 2) how the treaty proposal would interact with existing international obligations of the U.S.; 3) the possible benefits of or concerns about the treaty proposal, including with regard to the objectives of the treaty proposal, how those objectives could lead to improved access for the blind and visually impaired, and any concerns about the implementation of the proposed treaty provisions in the U.S. or abroad; and 4) other possible courses of action that would facilitate access by blind, visually impaired, and other reading disabled persons.

Please see the links at left for previous Federal Register Notices, public comments, and other relevant information on this topic.