Public Meeting
The agenda and procedure stated below follow the March 26, 2009 Federal Register Notice in which the United States Copyright Office (Copyright Office) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a public meeting on the topic of copyright exceptions for the blind or other persons with disabilities.1 The meeting was held in connection with a forthcoming meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Date and Location of Public Meeting:
The meeting was held on Monday, May 18, 2009, from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm in the Montpelier Room of the Library of Congress, James Madison Building, 6th Floor, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20559.
Members of the public were invited to observe the meeting on a walk-in basis.
Participating panelists are listed below.
Meeting Agenda:
The meeting agenda is listed below and included topics raised in the March 26 Federal Register Notice, as well as topics raised by interested parties in the written comments and reply comments requested by that Notice. Panel participants had an opportunity to make brief statements, in addition to responding to questions from Copyright Office and USPTO representatives.
During each panel specified below, the Copyright Office and USPTO sought information on experiences accessing U.S. works or sharing accessible copies within the United States, experiences accessing foreign works or sharing accessible copies of U.S. works with foreign persons, and proposed measures for facilitating and enhancing access to copyrighted works.
Panelists9:30 am – 10:00 am
Welcome
Introductory Remarks re: Nature of Inquiry, U.S. Legal and Regulatory Framework, and International Framework10:00 am – 11:30 am
Panel I
Access to Copyrighted Works for the Blind or Other Persons with Disabilities under Existing U.S. Statutory and Regulatory Provisions:
- General considerations related to copyrighted works (17 U.S.C. § 121(a))
- Specific considerations related to instructional materials (17 U.S.C. § 121(c))
- Technical considerations (formats, programs and devices)
- Resource considerations (governmental, private sector, nonprofit, and philanthropic)
- Common considerations related to access to copyrighted works for the blind, other persons with disabilities, and the general reading public
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Panel II
Existing Initiatives Affecting Access to Copyrighted Works for the Blind or Other Persons with Disabilities:
- Library Programs
- Private Sector Initiatives (Commercial and Nonprofit)
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Lunch break2:30 pm – 5:15 pm
Panel III
Possible Actions to Facilitate and Enhance Access to Copyrighted Works for the Blind or Other Persons with Disabilities:
- Developing standardized accessibility formats and other technical norms
- Establishing trusted intermediaries to coordinate resources, eliminate unnecessary duplication of accessible works, and ensure best practices
- Providing technical assistance, coordination, and educational outreach
- Promoting market-based solutions achieved through private sector copyright licenses or other agreements
- Developing binding or non-binding international instruments, including a treaty that would establish minimum requirements for limitations and exceptions for blind, visually impaired and other reading-disabled persons
5:15 pm
Concluding Remarks
Panel I
- Allan Adler (Association of American Publishers)
- Paul Aiken (Authors Guild)
- Peter Chapman (Pearson, Inc.)
- George Kerscher (DAISY Consortium)
- Scott LaBarre (National Federation of the Blind)
- Gary Mudd (American Printing House for the Blind)
- Ed O’Reilly (National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped)
- Rashmi Rangnath (Public Knowledge)
- Brad Thomas (Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, Inc.)
Panel II
- Allan Adler (Association of American Publishers)
- Paul Aiken (Authors Guild)
- Fritz Attaway (Motion Picture Association of America)
- Peter Chapman (Pearson, Inc.)
- George Kerscher (DAISY Consortium)
- Scott LaBarre (National Federation of the Blind)
- Gary Mudd (American Printing House for the Blind)
- Ed O’Reilly (National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped)
- Carrie Russell (American Library Association, Association of College and Research Libraries, Association of Research Libraries)
- Brad Thomas (Recording for the Blind & Dsylexic, Inc.)
Panel III
- Allan Adler (Association of American Publishers)
- Fritz Attaway (Motion Picture Association of America)
- Peter Chapman (Pearson, Inc.)
- George Kerscher (DAISY Consortium)
- Keith Kupferschmid (Software & Information Industry Association)
- Scott LaBarre (National Federation of the Blind)
- James Love (Knowledge Ecology International)
- Danny O'Brien (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
- Gary Mudd (American Printing House for the Blind)
- Rashmi Rangnath (Public Knowledge)
- Carrie Russell (American Library Association, Association of College and Research Libraries, Association of Research Libraries)
1 Various terms are used formally and informally throughout the world. When inquiring about experiences within the United States, the term used in this Notice of Inquiry is that which appears in U.S. copyright law. See 17 U.S.C. §121(d)(2). There, the term “blind or other persons with disabilities” is defined to include “individuals who are eligible or who may qualify in accordance with the Act entitled 'An Act to provide books for the adult blind,' approved March 3, 1931 (2 U.S.C. §135a; 46 Stat. 1487)." Please note that this was inadvertently misquoted in the Federal Register Notice as "blind and people with other disabilities."
See Federal Register Notice, footnote 1.