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Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters (CLM)

Annual Report 2007

Purpose

The Committee on Copyright and Other Legal Matters (CLM) was created by IFLA in 1997 to advise IFLA and its members not only on matters with respect to copyright and other areas of intellectual property, but also on economic and trade barriers to the acquisition and use of library resources, disputed claims of ownership of library materials, subscription and license agreements, and a wide range of other legal matters of international significance to libraries and librarianship. CLM works with and through national and regional library associations and other NGO’s to ensure that IFLA’s core value of providing "universal and equitable access to information, ideas and works of the imagination" is sustained, and in particular focuses on IFLA’s professional priority of "balancing the intellectual property rights of authors with the needs of users."

Membership

The Committee comprises the chair and members from 27 countries, nominated by their national library associations. In response to a call for nominations for 4-year terms (2007-2011) issued in October 2006, IFLA received 34 valid nominations from national library association members. In March 2007 the Governing Board appointed new members to 4-year terms (2007-2011) and members being re-appointed to 2-year terms (2007-2009.) In addition to appointed members, CLM relies on a small group of expert resource persons who provide advice in various areas of interest to the community. CLM has also established liaison relationships with several organizations whose complementary missions make them important partners for IFLA: eIFL, EBLIDA, the World Blind Union, and the Library Copyright Alliance.

World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)

As CLM is entirely a volunteer-driven entity, with no dedicated staff support through 2007, we have had to focus our energies on areas where we felt CLM could have the greatest impact, and where threats to our ability to preserve a balance between user and owner rights were most alarming. Consequently, we have increased our already intense involvement with WIPO in Geneva, where CLM representatives, often in conjunction with colleagues from eIFL and the (US) Library Copyright Alliance, participated actively in 6 meetings in 2007. Through written and oral interventions [many of which are available on the CLM website], collaboration with NGOs having similar goals, and aggressive advocacy with representatives from Members States, we have achieved some notable successes for libraries:

  1. Development Agenda. At meetings of the Provisional Committee on Proposals Related to a WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA) in February and June the delegates reached agreement on a series of proposals of immense importance to libraries - such as access to knowledge, exceptions and limitations for libraries and the importance of preserving the public domain. An especially important contribution from the library community was the paper jointly prepared by IFLA, eIFL and LCA on the public domain, which immediately became a reference point for many delegates. The PCDA recommendations were be taken up by the General Assemblies in September, and CLM representatives were present and worked hard to help ensure that the recommendations were adopted as part of WIPO’s future work plan. A key outcome was the establishment of a new, permanent Committee on Development and Intellectual Property, which is scheduled to meet in Geneva in March 2008.
  2. Broadcast Treaty. During recent years the single issue consuming most of the attention of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) was a proposed broadcast treaty. It is a challenge to describe exactly what the proposed treaty would have covered, as lack of transparency and agreement on this core issue led to impasses at every session. But IFLA’s opposition to the treaty was driven by the core principle that there should be no expansion of intellectual property protection unless those proposing it could demonstrate convincingly that it was solving a genuine problem and that it was in the public good. For a variety of reasons, the most important of which was the inability to reach the kind of consensus on which progress in WIPO depends, work on the broadcast treaty has been abandoned, at least for now, although it is likely to re-appear on future agendas of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights.
  3. Traditional Knowledge. For several years WIPO has been investigating, through its Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), what kinds of protection should be given to folklore and other "traditional cultural expressions." These issues are of great important to libraries in all parts of the world as they raise questions very different from those we face in handling published materials - e.g., who "owns" expressions created over time by a community, what is a community, and should intellectual property protection be limited in duration or perpetual? While the CLM Chair was able to participate in the most recent of these sessions in July, IFLA volunteers have not been able to devote as much attention to this WIPO activity as we intend to in the future. To help acquaint IFLA members with these issues, CLM presented a programme on Traditional Knowledge at the Durban conference (see below).
  4. Relations with WIPO leaders. At each meeting in Geneva, representatives of CLM, eIFL and the LCA have attempted - often successfully - to schedule meetings with high-level WIPO administrators, not simply to acquaint them with our issues but to seek means for developing on-going engagement in substantive activities of WIPO. We were pleased to be given the opportunity to comment on WIPO’s draft "model law," and also welcome WIPO’s appointment of an attorney, Geidy Lung, to serve as a liaison with CLM. Most importantly, IFLA and eIFL have sought and been granted a high-level meeting in Geneva with the leaders of WIPO at which we will discuss issues of importance to libraries and our users and develop a plan for regular briefings on such issues for WIPO staff and for participation in the regional workshops WIPO convenes in various parts of the world each year. While we had hoped to schedule this high-level meeting in 2007, changes in the top leadership post at WIPO, announced in late 2007, caused us to put this meeting on hold pending the appointment of a new Director General of WIPO.

"Limitations and Exceptions" for Libraries and the Visually Impaired

Shortly after the Oslo World Congress in 2005, the Chairs of CLM and IFLA’s Libraries for the Blind Section wrote to each of the IFLA national associations encouraging them to join IFLA and the World Blind Union (WBU) in persuading their governments to add to their national copyright laws provisions from WIPO’s model copyright law that would improve access to information for print-disabled people. Simultaneously CLM worked with the WBU to encourage WIPO to undertake a comprehensive study of limitations and exceptions for print-disabled people, which was published earlier this year and can be found at Study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for the Visually Impaired.

We had also talked with IFLA staff about commissioning a similar study concerning limitations and exceptions for libraries. Thus we were very pleased when the WIPO liaison to CLM announced at our meeting in Durban that WIPO had just commissioned such a study to be prepared in 2008 by Professor Kenny Crews, a librarian/attorney then at Indiana University and now at Columbia University (USA). CLM members from a number of countries have provided information and "case studies" that will inform Professor Crews’ report, which WIPO expects to receive around April 2008.

Durban World Congress

CLM held two formal business meetings during the IFLA World Congress in Durban. In addition to discussing the programs planned for the Durban and Quebec conferences, the committee received a report from WIPO’s liaison to CLM as well as from CLM participants in WIPO meetings, received a progress report with regard to the appointment of a Senior Policy Adviser at IFLA headquarters, and discussed way of maintaining better communications among members in the intervals between face-to-face meetings. The bulk of CLMII was devoted to a thorough review and updating of the CLM Action Plan (see below).

CLM sponsored two very well-attended programs in Durban. The first focused on "Traditional Knowledge, Cultural Expressions and Folklore," a complicated topic for librarians but one on which CLM needs to develop a position for its work with WIPO. We were fortunate to have Wend Wendland, the member of the WIPO Secretariat who has had chief responsibility for organizing the twelve sessions of the Intergovernmental Committee addressing these issues, give an overview both of the issues and of the WIPO program in this area. Mr. Wendland’s excellent framing introduction was followed by three presentations representing the constituencies most engaged with the traditional cultural expressions debate: Ms. Natalie Sunker, presenting one government’s (South Arica) approach to traditional knowledge; Mr. Mattias Ahren, a member of the Saami Council (Norway), discussing the issues from indigenous people’s perspectives; and Ms. Loriene Roy (USA), the first Native American president of the American Library Association, presenting a Native American librarian’s point of view.

The second CLM program in Durban, "Debunking Myths about Authors’ and Publishers’ Collecting Societies - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly," focused on the roles of Reproduction Rights Organizations (RROs) and how they might better cooperate with libraries to achieve the balance in copyright needed for both users and owners. Peter Shepherd, the President of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO), discussed what RROs are and what they do; the librarian’s perspective was presented via a paper prepared by CLM member, Victoria Owen (Canada). These introductory presentations were followed by two case studies: Mr. Kondwani Wella (Malawi) described the experience of a librarian in a developing country interacting with an emerging RRO; and Eve Woodberry, CLM member (Australia), described the productive way in which librarians and RRO members in Australia had collaborated on the creation of a code of conduct for RROs.

IFLA and IFRRO

The Durban progamme described above was planned not only because it dealt with issues important for librarians in all countries, but also as a prelude to an all-day session convened at the conclusion of the Durban conference between leaders of IFRRO and IFLA. With IFLA President Claudia Lux and IFRRO President Peter Shepherd as co-chairs, members of CLM’s Executive Board joined with other IFLA representatives to learn more about each other’s missions, values and goals in order to determine whether mutual interests might lead to future collaboration. The most concrete outcome of this information meeting was agreement that IFLA and IFRRO would explore the possibility of partnering to present a WIPO-sponsored workshop for librarians and publishers in Latin America in 2008.

Action Plan

Members developed CLM’s first full-fledged action plan (attached). The plan features four over-arching goals: to shape international policies and practices in international copyright, intellectual property, trade agreements and other legal matters that affect library services to users; to support IFLA’s "Society Pillar" by developing an effective advocacy program in support of libraries, librarians and library users worldwide; to support IFLA’s "Members’ Pillar" by providing exemplary programs, learning opportunities, and advice to IFLA’s sections and members; and to manage CLM effectively within the IFLA framework.

Advocacy

CLM members are very proud of our accomplishments, and the chair wishes to give a special thank you to CILIP, eIFL, the State and University Library in Denmark, and the Library Copyright Alliance for supporting regular participation by their staff in WIPO meetings. But much remains to be done! CLM is grateful to IFLA’s President, Secretary General and Governing Board for the progress made in 2007 toward a plan that will secure on-going staff support for IFLA’s advocacy efforts, enabling CLM to contribute even more effectively to IFLA’s society pillar. We ended 2007 full of optimism, knowing how much we had accomplished during the year, and knowing that interviews for IFLA’s first Senior Policy Adviser would occur early in 2008.