Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

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The Road to Accessibility without Borders: Celebrating the One-Year Anniversary of the Marrakesh Treaty

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

As a result, the Treaty closely follows the Chafee Amendment , which is the copyright exception that has made Bookshare possible in the United States. During the diplomatic conference, Bookshare was the most-cited model of what other countries could hope to achieve with the Treaty.

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Ratify Marrakesh!

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

The United States Senate has a terrific opportunity to expand opportunity The United States Senate has just been presented with the ratification package for the Marrakesh Treaty. As the operators of the largest library using this exception in the United States, we see these changes as minor and helpful clarifications.

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We Have a Treaty…and It’s Great!

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

For starters, it closely follows the Chafee Amendment , which is the copyright exception that has made Bookshare possible in the United States. We were worried that a bad treaty might even negatively affect our ability to serve our users in the United States.

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Benetech's Statement to the Treaty Delegates in Marrakech

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

We have 197,000 books available in the United States today, and serve 250,000 people , mainly in the United States, but also in 40 other countries. Benetech, my nonprofit organization operates Bookshare, the largest online library dedicated to serving blind and print disabled people.

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Commercial Availability: The Poison Pill for Marrakesh Treaty Implementation

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

Our experience successfully building Bookshare under the United States copyright exception, which has no such commercial availability limitation, informs this strong opinion. And we’re now making this happen in countries beyond the United States who, like India, have implemented Marrakesh without commercial limitation provisions.

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I Need a Good Lawyer

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

We’re operating at the forefront of copyright limitations and exceptions, both in the United States and globally. The recent Indian copyright amendment that creates an exception similar to Section 121 in the United States, which makes it possible for us to set up a Bookshare-style crowd-sourced library in India with local partner NGOs.

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Robin Seaman, Agent of Inclusion

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

We had just won the national contract to supply ALL disabled students in the United States, with ALL the books they needed to read to succeed in school, for free. How the Bookshare she helped build became the model for the global Treaty of Marrakesh ratified by fifty countries, including the United States in the last few months.

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