On June 27, a Diplomatic Conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held in Marrakesh, Morocco, adopted the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. The Library Copyright Alliance has issued a new “User Guide to the Marrakesh Treaty” (PDF) by Jonathan Band. Read a condensed version of the user guide on the ARL Policy Notes blog.
The Marrakesh Treaty is intended to promote the making and distribution of copies of books and other published materials in formats accessible to people with print disabilities. The treaty would achieve this objective by obligating countries signing it (referred to as Contracting Parties) to adopt exceptions in their copyright laws that permit the making of copies in accessible formats as well as the distribution of those copies both domestically and internationally. In the “User Guide to the Marrakesh Treaty,” Jonathan Band describes the treaty’s provisions and obligations for Contracting Parties. He also discusses US compliance with the treaty.
ARL worked closely with the US delegation throughout the treaty negotiating process, and through the Library Copyright Alliance was represented in WIPO meetings in Geneva and the Diplomatic Conference itself in Marrakesh.
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) consists of three major library associations—the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, and the Association of College and Research Libraries. These three associations collectively represent over 300,000 information professionals and thousands of libraries of all kinds throughout the United States and Canada. Find us on the web at http://librarycopyrightalliance.org/.
