Justin Hughes, the head of the US delegation to WIPO delivers the US remarks.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assembly decided yesterday to convene a Diplomatic Conference in Morocco in June 2013 to finalize negotiations on an international copyright treaty that would allow for the cross-border sharing of accessible content to people with print disabilities around the world. This is the final step in a long diplomatic process to end the “book famine” for the blind—particularly those in developing nations who have access to less than 1 percent of published works in alternative formats. The end result will be the allowance of authorized entities, including libraries, to lend accessible copies to blind people in other nations.
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA), of which ALA is a member, has been advocating for this treaty since 2009, working closely with the National Federation of the Blind, the American Council for the Blind and the United States delegation to WIPO.
About Carrie Russell
Carrie Russell is the director for OITP's Program on Public Access to Information. Since 1999, Carrie has developed copyright education programs and related services to help ALA members understand the latest trends regarding copyright law and its impact on libraries.
