16 Feb
Unanimous pressure in EP forces Commission to accept binding Treaty of Blind Persons
Never before have I seen such cross-party unity in bashing a Commissioner as last night when Internal Market head Michel Barnier got a real roasting for the EU not supporting an effective Treaty for the visually impaired and print-disabled at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Today a resolution in favor of the Treaty was passed almost unanimously by the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B7-2012-0062&language=EN
Here ares some of the expressions used by the MEPs who took part in the 40 minute debate last night: “Lack of sensitivity”, “Double standards”, “We are irritated with you”, “Your position is very disappointing”, “The EU practices obstructionism at WIPO”, “The EU blocks steps forward”, “The Treaty isn´t charity, it is a question of rights”, “ludicrous that digital formats don´t increase access”, “You just speak bla, bla, bla”, “For public debt binding law, for rights of blind voluntary recommendations”, “Don´t use creators as a barrier”, “I cannot understand the rigidity of the Commission at WIPO” and “Copyright is a glaring barrier to access”.
Here you can listen to the debate: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sed/speeches.do?sessionDate=20120215
Without any political escape in sight and under great dialectical pressure Commissioner Barnier lamely tried to get away with a few vague promises of an “open dialogue of stakeholders”, “leave all options open”, and “we want a pragmatic solution.” In the end Barnier was forced to assume the commitment to seek a mandate from the Council and the Commission to negotiate a binding treaty. He said it would not be easy because there were a number of member states who opposed a treaty. He called on the Parliament to support his task. This is the first time the European Commission has called for support of a binding Treaty for the Visually Impaired and Print Disabled.
David Hammerstein, TACD
Posted by john e miller on 16.02.12 at 11:22 am
The unspoken 500-pound-gorilla-in-the-room is the SCCR 23/5 broad exceptions for libraries and archives document which would eclipse anything in the current SCCR 23/7 exceptions for the visually impaired.
Should the SCCR 23/7 document pass in anything resembling its current form, I infer from published remarks that those in the IP rights community believe it would be that much more difficult to oppose the 23/5 library treaty.
Posted by david on 16.02.12 at 11:22 am
Now we are only considering the needs of the visually impaired. Things are so terribly slow and tortuous at WIPO that I doubt that it is very credible to pose the “slippery slope” argument against TVI.
Posted by john e miller on 16.02.12 at 11:22 am
http://keionline.org/node/1172
Posted by john e miller on 16.02.12 at 11:22 am
‘Slippery slope’ vs. camel’s-nose — from the above KEI online.org link:
‘Justin (Hughes) was effective in drafting text and in the negotiations. He also spent a great deal of time telling the World Blind Union it was a mistake to push for a treaty, and trying to engineer an outcome that would kill the treaty, which Justin told the WBU was “the camel’s nose” in terms of what would come next.’