Student Note on Accessibility and Intellectual Property

Just out: Mary Bertlesman, The Fight for Accessible Formats: Technology as a Catalyst for a World Effort to Improve Accessibility Domestically, 27 Syracuse Sci. & Tech. L. Rep. 26 (2012).  The abstract:

This note addresses the proposed WIPO International Instrument on the Limitations and Exception for Persons with Print Disabilities. I conclude that the current growth in technology - making previously inaccessible works accessible -- calls for a change to current domestic copyright law and that ratification of the proposed treaty should be this change. 

The proposed treaty compliments the growth of adaptive technology and the need for accessibility by permitting the creation of limited types of derivative works; providing rights to circumvent technological protection measures; and granting the freedom of import and export of accessible works. Furthermore, the proposed treaty compliments current disability law in the sense that it mirrors the legislative intent to provide a clear and comprehensive mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities, including discrimination in access to information.