Brazil’s State Secretariat for Culture held a public consultation to assess the need to review the Brazilian Copyright Act 1998. The consultation, which closed on September 15, 2019, aimed at establishing priorities among options such as modernizing copyright for the digital era, regulating collective management and adopting WIPO’s Internet Treaties.
On 17 September 2019 the fifth list of books for the UN SDG Book Club were announced. The list of titles in all six official UN languages, aimed at children aged 6-12, focuses on the fifth sustainable development goal – Gender Equality.
The French Publishers Association (SNE) initiative “La rentrée littéraire pour tous » successfully saw 82 publishers make 425 titles available in accessible format upon their release in partnership with the French National Library (BNF) and the National Book Centre (CNL).
Following legislative change in the European Union (EU) on 2 October 2018, EU Member States continue to reduce VAT rates for eBooks and audiobooks, often aligning them with physical books. Slovenia and Poland are the latest countries to act while the Publishers Association in the UK Campaigns hard.
October and the first days of November were again very busy, with visits to four different countries and three book fairs in the course of three weeks.
SCCR 39 concluded this evening with an agreement found on how to keep the Exceptions and Limitations discussion moving forward and the other agenda items wrapped up and a possible new issue raised in the chamber.
The second day of discussions on the broadcasting treaty were mainly conducted behind closed doors with the plenary chamber finally filling at 17:40 for a presentation of conclusions.
The first day closed with Dr Kenneth Crews waiting to be grilled by delegates and observers. He was given the opportunity this morning, but the highlights today were the side events and the ripples from some late-night messages to delegates.
The second and final day of the IPA Regional Seminar in the Middle East was opened by Sharjah publisher Bodour Al Qasimi (Kalimat Group), who is (among other things) also the IPA Vice-President.
