US Didn't Sign The WIPO Treaty For The Blind

from the ah,-look-at-that dept

Fri, Jul 12th 2013 12:22pm — Mike Masnick

We were happy to see that the WIPO treaty for the visually impaired was finally completed and signed following the negotiations in Marrakech, where the MPAA did everything it could to try to kill or water down the agreement, with the US negotiating delegation acting as the MPAA's happy lap dogs. So, I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise to see that while 51 countries signed the agreement in Marrakech, the United States was not among them.

Now, you can argue that the US should have time to look over the agreement, or maybe run it through Congress first -- but, of course, when it comes to agreements that simply expand copyright, such as ACTA, the US stepped right up to sign right away, without having any open discussion or asking Congress to approve it. Furthermore, merely signing the document is different from ratifying it, so the US could have signed the document, and decided whether to fully ratify it later if it was really concerned. But, instead, the US simply decided not to sign at all, even as other countries decided to do so.

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Filed Under: blind, marrakech, treaties, us, wipo treaty

14 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 12:34pm

Disappointing but not surprising.
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CK20XX, 12 Jul 2013 @ 12:46pm

"I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here."
- Toph Beifong
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jupiterkansas (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 12:46pm

What are the consequences of the United States not signing?
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 12:51pm

The US will now be the first country to say that being as they never signed this treaty then this treaty is not lawful and valid in their eyes and will not be honoured at all.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 12:59pm

Honestly the treaty was not very well designed for the american mess of a copyright system. It was much more appropriate for the far more clear and more oppressive european system.
The thing that is desperately needed is a legal quantitative de minimus use of copyrighted material. That would go a long way in making the system less intolerable.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 1:03pm

Re:
Toph is best bender.
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john e miller, 12 Jul 2013 @ 2:20pm

Re: Consequences of not signing
None.
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john e miller, 12 Jul 2013 @ 2:38pm

Re: Consequences of not signing Take 2
From Treaties.UN.org Website:

By signature, the State has not expressed its consent to be bound by the treaty, which does not occur until the State ratifies, accepts or approves the treaty. Signature does mean that a State is obliged, in good faith, to refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty (articles 18 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969).
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Guardian, 12 Jul 2013 @ 4:51pm

unless the nsa CAN SEE IT
they aint wantin to be part of it
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 7:52pm

Re:
They're not blind so much as bought and corrupt.
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techflaws (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 10:23pm

Re:
Oppressive how?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jul 2013 @ 3:20am

so, anyone want further proof of who is actually running the country and ultimately, trying/wanting to run the world? let's face it, think of how deep a pile of shit we would be in if we could never watch another movie or listen to another album. well, the world would just curl up and die!!
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jul 2013 @ 8:09am

So who DID it sign it for?
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Ninja (profile), 15 Jul 2013 @ 4:47am

Must be though to be blind in the US eh?
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