Marrakech Treaty For The Blind Signed; MPAA Unable To Kill It
from the could-it-be? dept
It took decades to get this done, but it appears that a copyright treaty for the blind has been signed in Marrakech, and despite a full court press from the MPAA to further water down the agreement, it appears the final version is closer to what the various public interest and blind groups wanted. Apparently, US and EU negotiators were not thrilled with the outcome, but couldn't fight it any more. The full text hasn't been released yet, but from all the commentary out of Marrakech, it sounds like the MPAA failed to poison this treaty. I'm sure we'll have more on this later, but two things to discuss out of this:- Contrary to the claims of the USTR about how it would be crazy to negotiate agreements like ACTA, TPP or TAFTA with openness on the drafts being considered, this agreement was negotiated with transparency and (mostly) openness. Once again, we see that the USTR is full of it with its lack of transparency.
- There is still a ratification question. Expect the MPAA efforts to now shift to blocking the US from actually ratifying the treaty, which is rather important, since the key part of the treaty is letting creative works for the blind enter into various countries, but most of the books would likely originate from the US....
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Filed Under: blind, copyright, fair use, marrakech, ratification, three step
Companies: mpaa
Reader Comments
The First Word
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MPAA tried hard to screw over the blind, but got blindsided.Subscribe: RSS
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Unless the US government comes clean with all the spying business, these countries they are asking for signing on to treaties is likely to tell the US they can't trust them to honor what they sign. Antigua comes to mind in that one as a prime example that could now work against them.
While the entertainment industries do have national copy right enforcers and pushers for law, most of them are actually viewed as being arms of the US group.
That's not going to be good for the long haul without this government restoring trust and so far they are batting zero.
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It would appear that the MPAA would once again have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future.
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Slimey? You bectcha. But that's how these people operate.
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One could only hope...
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And the final treaty went against the wishes of the MPAA, which the USTR considers a disaster. So to them, this is a perfect example of how openness is a problem, since the outcome of such open negotiations won't please their corporate masters.
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I'm probably looking like a maniac laughing here. Hilarious!
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You know they get music in the background…
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'Blind Treaty' Ratification
The “success” of the Marrakech diplomatic conference in June was inevitable. We will probably have a treaty. However, whether it will then be ratified by member states is another question.
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So if kids can't get there natural rights to be free of death penalties and/or life imprisonment for children the blind are basically stuffed in the USA.
Though Mike your second point alludes to the situation that if the books originate from the USA they wont be available elsewhere , this is false.. The treaty would allow ratifying countries to distribute books for the blind and if the USA companies who own the content try to sue for infringement they would be stopped by an affirmative defense under the treaty.
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Re: post #12
Article 1 -- Relation to other Conventions and Treaties
Nothing in this treaty shall derogate from any obligations that Contracting Parties have to each other under any other treaties, nor shall it prejudice any rights that a Contracting Party has under any other treaties.
So the 'affirmative defense' statement above may be questionable.
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Re: Re: post #12
Though once ratified it becomes law in whatever jurisdiction it is ratified in. Yes other treaties are also part of the law of that jurisdiction too which is where conflicts arise all the time. I'd agree that the affirmative part of my original comment is suspect, though it is highly dependent on how the law is stated after the ratification is completed. A prime example of this is using the UNCRC in conjuction with extradition treaties of say Australia and the USA. Both treaties have a similar " Relation to other Conventions and Treaties" statement but due to the actual law of Australia the UNCRC Treaty overrides the extradition treaty absolutely with an affirmative defense if a child were wanted for extradition to the USA on criminal charges (Interestingly the same applies to Adults wanted too if the death penalty could be imposed in the USA).
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Re: Re: post #11
That will always be the case since the jurisdiction where they are exporting from has sadly not ratified it and still considers it an infringement on copyright to allow these works to be transformed etc for disability purposes.
What I'm stating is that anyone who imports, copies or distributes who resides in the jurisdiction where the treaty has been ratified would be less likely to be sued for wrongful infringement under this situation [ my comment below states reasoning why]
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http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121205194059/simpsons/images/e/e9/Nelson_Ha-Ha.jpg
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Why?
So the blind are just collateral damage in an attempt to prevent copyright from being watered down.
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Re: Why?
Now, given the approval of the treaty text, we will soon enough find out if they have adequately prepared themselves for what may be a grueling ratification process at least in those countries from where the bulk of copyrighted materials -- and copyrighted materials already available in accessible format -- will originate.
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Haven't dealt with the MPAA before, I see.
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WIPO Treaty for the Blind Draft Text From Marrakesh
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