Extract
A model copyright exemption to serve the visually impaired: an alternative to the treaty proposals before WIPO.
ABSTRACT
Copyright law presents visually impaired persons with serious barriers to access of the written word. A recent international effort seeks to remove these barriers to access, in limited instances, by allowing the creation of accessible formats of copyrighted works. While bodies like the World Blind Union--through several South American states--have presented draft treaties to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), to date the interested parties have not found a mutually agreeable solution. This Note surveys international intellectual property law as it relates to the problem, draws a comparison to the humanitarian concerns entangled with international patent law, and tracks the progress of the efforts toward resolution. The Note then discusses the shortcomings of the currently proposed solutions. Finally, this Note proposes a market-based solution to providing accessible works, which conforms to the requirements of the Berne Convention and TRIPS Accord's "three-step test" and avoids the onerous process of finding an acceptable treaty as well as the static resolution such a treaty would provide. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION II. BACKGROUND A. Foundations of International Copyright B. Interface with International Human Rights and Lessons from International Patent Law C. The Economics of Copyright in a Digital World D. A Summary of Current Exceptions for the Visually Impaired E. The Proposed Solutions i. The First Proposed Treaty ii. Proposals at the Twentieth Session of the Standing Committee iii. The TIGAR Solution III. WHY THE PROPOSED TREATIES ARE INADEQUATE AND UNNECESSARY MEASURES A. The Redundancy of the Treaties B. The Shortcomings of the Proposed Treaties C. Technology Specific Shortfalls of the Treaties i. The Lack of Adequate Ability to Circumvent Technological Protections ii. Patent-Related Barriers to Access iii. The Lack of a Standardized File Format for Accessible Digital Works Will Burden the Visually Impaired IV. A MODEL LAW: THE ALTERNATIVE WIPO SHOULD PURSUE A. Important General Provisions B. A Framework for an Effective Model Law C. The Framework in International Law V. CONCLUSION In a word, literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.--Helen Keller (1) I. INTRODUCTION In 2002, approximately 161 million people in the world lived with a visual impairment. (2) Thirty-seven million of those people suffered from blindness with the remainder suffering from low vision. (3) Visual impairment also affects marginalized populations at a greater rate: women, the elderly (over the age of fifty), and those living in developing nations experience visual impairment at significantly greater rates than men, younger individuals, and those living in the developed world. (4) The total economic cost of visual impairment, measured as lost productivity, in the year 2000 amounted to an estimated $19 billion attributable to blindness and $42 billion attributable to all visual impairment. (5) In the United States alone, visual impairment accounts for an annual loss of more than 209,000 quality-adjusted life years. (6) The visually impaired must negotiate substantial barriers in accessing the written word. (7) Despite the availability of a variety of accessible media--ranging from Braille and large print editions to simple and complex technological solutions (e.g., magnifiers, computer software--hardware combinations)--the cost of these technologies creates a large burden borne by the visually impaired. (8) Even texts within the public domain, when rendered in an accessible format, become expensive: an English-Braille version of the Roman Catholic Bible can cost more than $700; (9) Shakespeare's Hamlet costs approximately four times as much in Braille; (10) and in Indonesia, printing a Braille version of the Qur'an costs 1.2 million rupiah (11) (approximately $134 (12) or 95 [euro] (13)) while the per capita GDP is estimated at approximately 35 million rupiah (14) (less than thirty times the cost of the Qur'an). The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) estimates that the visually impaired can access no more than 5 percent of published books currently available because of format barriers. (15) At the same time, technology continues to improve access to the written word for those visually impaired people who can afford it. Both Microsoft's and Apple's latest operating systems support increased access for the visually impaired, (16) Public libraries have made digital audio book downloads available to the blind as a free lending service. (17) E-book readers like Amazon's Kindle line and Sony's Reader line allow readers to adjust the size of the font. (18) The Kindle line also has the ability to convert text to speech. (19) However, visually impaired users report difficulty in activating the function. (20) This dra...See the full content of this document
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