The International Authors Forum attended the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR34) in Geneva during the week commencing 1st May 2017.
Mr Daren Tang Heng Shim was elected as Chair of the Committee. He is also Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and a musician.
IAF Member the Federazione Unitaria Italiana Scrittori (FUIS) was also approved as an accredited SCCR observer of the non-governmental organisations at this session.
The agenda included the Broadcasting Treaty, Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries & Archives, Limitations and Exceptions for Educational and research institutions and for persons with other disabilities, proposal for analysis of Copyright Related to the Digital Environment as well as discussions around the Artist’s Resale Right.
The International Authors Forum made two interventions during the SCCR in support of the right of authors to make a living from their work and to remind the delegates considering treaties in these areas that their actions may result in some unintended consequences, with creators limiting the quantities of work they would create if they are not being paid for that work.
The IAF intervention on Educational Exceptions can be found here.
The IAF also supported IAF Member Mats Lindberg from BUS in Sweden who was speaking up in this instance on behalf of the European Visual Artists (EVA) regarding the Artist’s Resale Right. The IAF intervention can be found here.
In brief, the agenda for the SCCR looks like it is moving forward. Various presentations were given on the scope of work the Committee was commissioning to gather or update information in areas of interest to the Committee such as:
• The Study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Educational Activities by Professor Daniel Seng (update)
• Study on limitations and exceptions for persons with disabilities other than print disabilities with presentations by Professor Caroline Ncube of the University of Cape Town and Professor Blake Reid from the University of Colorado.
• Analysis of Copyright Related to the Digital Environment (scoping) will be presented at the next SCCR
• Economic implications of the Resale Right presented by Professor Kathryn Graddy (progress report) with the completed version of the study being presented at the next SCCR
We will share with you the presentations/studies as soon as they are made available.