The undersigned international organisations, WIPO observers representing authors, publishers and their collective management organisations, would like to thank you for your continued support at international level to encourage WIPO Member States to implement solutions based on current international treaties (the Berne Convention and the WIPO Copyright Treaty).
Cultural heritage and educational institutions such as libraries, museums and archives, have an important role in facilitating access to copyrighted works, as well as their communication, use, sharing and preservation.
This should, however, not come at the expense of authors and publishers through additional exceptions, especially when these activities are already taking place under the current copyright/exceptions and limitations frameworks, for instance, through flexible, highly effective and wide-ranging voluntary licensing schemes.
Exceptions and limitations to authors’ rights and copyright must fulfil the three-step test criteria, enshrined in the international copyright treaties and require a careful calibration to achieve the necessary balance of the legitimate interests at stake. This balance is essential to protect the economic viability of creation and dissemination of copyrighted works, to guarantee appropriate remuneration, and to foster local markets. The effective revenues of authors and publishers depend on their possibility to sell and to license works and images, so that their investment is valued and properly remunerated. It is therefore paramount to ensure that exceptions and limitations to copyright do not endanger this value chain and its sources, the authors and visual artists, in any way.
The international copyright framework, when implemented and enforced, relies on this careful balance and, so far, has allowed a rich and diverse cultural creation to coexist with exceptions and limitations. This balanced approach can and should serve as an example for all WIPO Member States.
We call on WIPO Member States to keep supporting the flourishing cultural and creative sectors and the substantive and economic values authors and publishers convey to society, to ensure that balance remains the key guiding principle in the international discussions on authors’ rights and copyright.
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
European Visual Artists (EVA)
European Writers’ Council (EWC)
International Authors Forum (IAF)
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO)
International Publishers Association (IPA)
The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM)