International Copyright Issues and Libraries

(posted by Peter Hirtle)

In the most recent issue of Current Cites, I draw attention to a recent issue brief written by Janice Pilch, ARL’s visiting program officer on international copyright, on what are called “traditional cultural expressions” (TCEs).  Efforts are underway in WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, to create a new kind of copyright to protect the folklore and traditional culture of indigenous and native peoples.  Depending on the final shape of the treaty, this could have an immense impact on libraries and archives.  Pilch’s issue brief is a terrific introduction to this complicated topic.

Pilch has been churning out other issue briefs on international topics that should be of concern to librarians and archives.  On the Library Copyright Alliance web site’s International section there are now briefs on the following hot topics:

• Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) – the secret international agreement aimed at creating a stronger framework for global enforcement of intellectual property rights.
• International Copyright: Why It Matters to Libraries – an introduction for librarians to the work of WIPO. 
• The proposed Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired, and Other Reading Disabled Persons,
• The WIPO Development Agenda.  Pilch notes that this represents a major shift for WIPO, since it focuses less on the interests of rights owners and more on “the knowledge gap and the digital divide that separate wealthy nations from poor nations.”

More and more the intellectual property policy that shapes what libraries and archives can do is being fashioned in Geneva.  Pilch and ARL are to be commended for generating a series of clear, informative issue briefs that can help educate librarians about these developments.