Intellectual Property
Further to my earlier newsletter today, there are great celebrations going on around the world as the Marrakesh Treaty hails a whole new world of possibilities for persons with sensory disabilities, and for libraries, educational institutions and other organisations that provide services to them. Having been deprived of reading material and access to information for so long, they now will have the chance to access and read material in accessible formats and share information across borders.
The Draft Treaty will now go to the WIPO Drafting Committee for editing, etc., and will then be formally approved on 27 June and signed on 28 June 2013. A great achievement for all at Marrakesh and those who have been working behind the scenes in each country to make this happen!
Special congratulations, thanks and kudos must go to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen. I would like to particularly acknowledge with pride and thanks, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL) and all their Alliance partners, the World Blind Union & Knowledge Ecology International and all their contributing partners too, who, through their dedication, advocacy and sheer determination to make things right for persons with disabilities, have helped to make this Treaty a reality. Kudos to WIPO too for facilitating this long and difficult road to Marrakesh!