With Canada’s Entry, Treaty for the Blind Will Come Into Force; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), 6/30/16

Parker Higgins, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); With Canada’s Entry, Treaty for the Blind Will Come Into Force:

"The treaty was signed by more than 75 countries, but just signing a treaty does not make it law; it needed 20 ratifications or accessions before going into force. India became the first to ratify exactly two years ago, and Canada’s accession today is the crucial twentieth. According to WIPO, that sets in motion a process to bring Marrakesh into force on September 30 of this year.

That’s another significant step for a treaty that has already made some important breakthroughs as the first international treaty focused exclusively on the rights of users of copyrighted material. Typically, if user’s rights are considered at all, they’re relegated to a section on “limitations and exceptions” or even as non-binding introductory text. In the Marrakesh Agreement, they are front and center.

That focus, and the prospect that it could set a precedent for future WIPO agreements, led groups like the Motion Picture Association of America to oppose the treaty throughout its decade-long negotiation. Although the WIPO negotiation process is far from perfect, its transparency and openness allow public interest organizations to push back on industry group positions."