Activities
CLM focuses its energies on areas of copyright where it can have the greatest impact, and where threats to libraries’ ability to preserve a balance between user and owner rights are most pressing. It is mostly concerned with the global copyright arena, as IFLA is an international organisation. CLM works at with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva, where CLM representatives, often in conjunction with colleagues from Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL) and the US-based Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) and the International Council on Archives (ICA), have actively participated in meetings since 2005. It monitors international trade agreements that have the potential to affect libraries. CLM also works to build capacity at national levels through library associations, and is the main intellectual resource for IFLA and its members when it comes to copyright and other legal issues for libraries.
CLM work at WIPO includes:
Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives Through CLM, IFLA has been instrumental in helping bring a proposal for a treaty on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives to the agenda of WIPO’s Standing committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). Supported by the work of IFLA and other library groups, textual proposals have been put forward by several Member States and limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives are consistently discussed at SCCR meetings. The 26th SCCR in July 2013 will continue text-based work on the issue and consider whether a three-day inter-sessional meeting devoted to libraries and archives should be held later in the year.
Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Visually Impaired Persons
CLM works with the World Blind Union (WBU) to encourage WIPO to pass a treaty for Limitations and Exceptions for the Visually Impaired. Currently, the treaty proposal is in its final stages and will be discussed at a Diplomatic Conference in Marrakesh in June 2013. IFLA strongly supports the successful negotiation of a binding treaty in Marrakesh.
Relations with WIPO Secretariat
In recent years representatives of CLM have had held productive meetings with high-level WIPO administrators, discussing issues of importance to libraries and their users. IFLA held a joint reception with WIPO at the 23rd meeting of the SCCR in 2011 where WIPO Director General Francis Gurry shared the podium with IFLA President Ingrid Parent. WIPO Assistant Director General, Culture and Creative Industries Sector, Trevor Clarke spoke at the World Library and information Congress in Puerto Rico in 2011. Through CLM, IFLA has also organized workshops in association with WIPO, the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) and the International Publishers Association (IPA) on how to enhance the culture of reading in the digital age.
Opposition to the Broadcast Treaty at WIPO
During the past decade WIPO's SCCR has been discussing a proposed treaty to provide protection against theft of broadcast signals. Little evidence has been presented to show why a treaty is needed and enforcement measures under existing laws and treaties adequately protect against the piracy of broadcast signals. CLM has articulated IFLA's opposition to the treaty which driven by the core principle that there should be no expansion of intellectual property protection unless those proposing it could demonstrate convincingly that it was in the public good. For a variety of reasons, the most important of which is inability to reach the kind of consensus on which progress in WIPO depends, progress on the broadcast treaty has been slow, and almost abandoned at times over the past decade. CLM would prefer to see progress on issues IFLA cares deeply about, such as the development agenda.
Development Agenda at WIPO
At meetings of the Provisional Committee on Proposals Related to a WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA), in 2006 and 2007, delegates reached agreement on a series of proposals of immense importance to libraries - such as access to knowledge, exceptions and limitations for libraries and the importance of preserving the public domain. This has set the scene for WIPO’s current work on exceptions and limitations. The WIPO Committee on Development of Intellectual Property (CDIP) monitors and assesses the implementation of the Development Agenda as well as undertaking further discussion on intellectual property and development. CLM members have made many statements at the CDIP and continue to monitor the Committee’s work.
Preservation of Traditional Knowledge at WIPO
For several years WIPO has been investigating, through its Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), what kind of protection should be given to folklore and other "traditional cultural expressions." These issues are of great important to libraries in all parts of the world and CLM has closely monitored these issues in recent years. The subject of traditional knowledge features high on the agenda of IFLA’s President Ingrid Parent (2011-2013) and in 2012 IFLA issued Guiding Principles Concerning International Treaties Relating to Traditional Cultural Expressions.
CLM has also been involved with other developments with regards to intellectual property and the impact on libraries.
Orphan and Out of Commerce Works CLM members drafted the IFLA Statement on Orphan works and have actively been engaged in stakeholder dialogs to find solutions for out of commerce works.
Copyright for Creativity (C4C) Through CLM, IFLA has been involved in the Copyright for Creativity (C4C) initiative and endorses the statements of C4C. C4C lobbies for better European legislation for copyright.
Google Book Settlement CLM has closely monitored the Google Book Settlement, engaging with the European Commission stakeholder dialogue and issuing a position Statement.
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)
CLM has been following and participating in the discussion around ACTA and TPPA and has issued watching briefs with regards to both treaties.
Last update: 22 January 2013