Ecuador: New Treaty to help visually impaired with exceptions to copyrighted material

Quito, Aug 22 Prensa Latina reported The Treaty of Marrakech will benefit over 280 thousand visually disabled persons in Ecuador, playing an important role in tyhe promotion of the pact which should become valid next September 30.

Together with Brazil, Paraguay and Mexico, Ecuador was one of the original supporters of the agreement, ratified in Geneva last June, reported a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Human Mobility.

The Treaty is an instrument that will allow to introduce in the rights of author copyrights, a group of limitations and exceptions to allow for the reproduction, distribution and access to Works already published in formats accessible to persons blind or with impaired vision, with reading or physically disabled to manipulate a book or with ocular movement problems.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, only seven percent of books published are accessible in highly-developed countries, while in developing nations this indicator might be one percent less, explains the information.

The agreement will establish for member states two objectives: exceptions to copyright of domestic authors (in each nation) for blind persons or with reading disabilities and that these countries allow to import and export the accessible versions of books or other written material without the consent of the owner of copyrights when they are in adapted formats.

In Ecuador, authorities work to create a technical inter-institutional committee to adapt the national legislation in the issue of disabilities and intellectual property, in order that the international convention can be fully applied.

The countries that ratified the treaty of Marrakech are: Argentina, Australia,

Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, United Arab Emirates, India, Israel, Mali, México, Mongolia, Paraguay, Peru, North Korea, South Korea, Singapore, Uruguay, Guatemala and Canada. Read Article

THINKING OF MOVING TO ECUADOR? READ THIS BOOK