WIPO: Take a stand to support access to copyrighted material across borders for blind and print disabled readers

Whatever you do, do SOMETHING to speak up

Hear how WIPO is working for a treaty to make more books available in accessible formats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE_vXj49rh0



A Call from the National Federation of the Blind to create video testimonials
Subject: We Need Your Videos

Dear Friends,

In less than two weeks, representatives of almost two hundred countries will meet in Marrakesh, Morocco, to consider adopting a treaty that will make it legally possible for printed copyrighted materialslike books, magazines, textbooks, and job training coursesto be converted to formats that the blind and print disabled can use AND, critically, for those accessible materials to be easily shared across national boundaries for the first time in history. Successfully negotiating this treaty is, therefore, vital to every blind and print-disabled person, their families, friends, and employers the world over. For tens of millions around the world desperately trying to learn and earn themselves out of crushing poverty, it may actually mean the difference between a life of hope and opportunity or one of misery and despair.


Unfortunately, enormously powerful corporations mostly in the United States and the European Union recently have made clear their intention to block adoption of the treaty, or to make it so complicated and burdensome for the providers of accessible materials that the treaty's goal of ending the worldwide "book famine" for the blind will be thwarted. You have the power to stop them.



Please, take just a few minutes today to sit down in front of a video camera and tell us about yourself, your struggles to obtain books and other materials and what the treaty would mean to you or someone you care about. Just follow the few easy steps below and we will work to be sure that your video is seen by scores of journalists, hundreds of delegates to the treaty conference in Marrakesh, and by millions of internet users around the globe.



Tell the chairmen and CEOs of some of the world's biggest companies to drop their opposition to a treaty that doesn't legally affect them but means everything to you. Please do it today! Here's how . . .



***MARRAKESH TREATY APPEAL VIDEO STEP-BY-STEP***



Your video absolutely should be in your own words! Please follow these easy step-by step suggestions and brief outline for your comments, however, so that we can effectively merge your video story with others' for the highest impact:



1. Find a quiet place to record so we can hear everything you say. Outdoors is fine, but windy or noisy locations should be avoided;



2. Stand or sit as far from the camera as it takes for just your head and body above the waist to be seen on camera. Closer or further won't be as helpful;



3. Start with this exact "lead-in," please: "My name is _______ and I live in ___(City) & ____(State). I strongly support the Books Without Borders copyright treaty."



4. Then, please tell us what kind of print disability you (or the family member or friend you're speaking about) have;



5. Briefly explain what kind of books or other materials you (or they) would like to be able to get but can't, and what having those materials would mean to you. Anything important to youeducation, job training, hobbies is important to us!



6. Finally, to end your video, please record exactly as written below all three of the brief personal appeals to the powerful chief executives whose companies are leading sophisticated coalition efforts to block the Marrakesh treaty. (No need to read the a), b) c) headings of course!) We will work to have your voice echo around the world:



a) General Electric [CEO name pronounced "Im" like image + "melt"]



"Mr. Immelt, I need a strong Marrakesh copyright treaty to get books I can read. Almost 300 million people around the world need it even more. General Electricthe company you runis blocking books for the blind in Marrakesh. As CEO, you can stop that. Please stop it NOW!"



b) Adobe [CEO name pronounced "Na - rye - in"]



"Mr. Narayen, I need a strong Marrakesh copyright treaty to get books I can read. Almost 300 million people around the world need it even more. Adobethe company you runis blocking books for the blind in Marrakesh. As CEO, you can stop that. Please stop it NOW!"



c) Exxon Mobil



"Mr. Tillerson, I need a strong Marrakesh copyright treaty to get books I can read. Almost 300 million people around the world need it even more. Exxon Mobilthe company you runis blocking books for the blind in Marrakesh. As CEO, you can stop that. Please stop it NOW!"



Please send your video to Jessica Freeh, Public Relations Specialist, National Federation of the Blind, at jfreeh@nfb.org . If you have any questions, please contact Jessica or me. Thank you.

Chris Danielsen
CDanielsen@nfb.org



And from the American Council of the Blind


Subject: [leadership] Petition in Support of Treaty to Allow Greater Access to Books by People Who Have Print Reading Disabilities

Hello all,


As we get closer to the Diplomatic Conference which will decide the future of efforts to make it possible for producers of books in accessible formats to share them with people with visual impairments worldwide, we need to show the government of the United States that their constituents support a treaty that will provide meaningful access to books. Please go to the ACB website and sign a petition in support of this treaty. The petition can be found here:


https://donate.acb.org/PetitionWIPO


Then, tell you friends, family members, neighbors, business associates, and anyone else you can think of, to do the same. We need to send a message that is loud and clear to our government, and to the large corporations and publishers who have been trying to erode the support for this treaty among members of the U.S. delegation to WIPO. Please spread the word and share the link to this petition. We are urging people to sign here. There is another petition on the We the People Site, but this one is much easier to work with.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Melanie Brunson


Melanie Brunson, Esq.
Executive Director
American Council of the Blind
2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 650
Arlington, VA 22201
(T) 202-467-5081
(T) 800-424-8666
(F) 703-465-5085