Friday 2 May 2014

Marrakesh Treaty: a paper for a puzzle

Anything but Express! The
Marrakesh Treaty was a long
time in coming ...
"The Marrakesh Puzzle" is a paper by US-based scholar Marketa Trimble (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law). Soon to be published in IIC, the International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Marketa's piece is currently available for all to peruse via the kindness of SSRN, here. According to the abstract:
This article analyzes the puzzle created by the 2013 Marrakesh Treaty in its provisions concerning the cross-border exchange of copies of copyrighted works made for use by persons who are “blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled” (copies known as “accessible format copies”). The analysis should assist executive and legislative experts as they seek optimal methods for implementing the Treaty. 
The article provides an overview of the Treaty, notes its unique features, and examines in detail its provisions on the cross-border exchange of accessible format copies. The article discusses three possible sources for implementation tools – choice of law rules, the exhaustion doctrine, and labeling – and concludes that a suitable method of implementing the cross-border exchange provisions of the Treaty may consist of a combination of appropriately-selected rules for choice of applicable law and rules for labeling.
Thanks, Marketa, for letting us know.  It's always fun to read articles on treaties at the relatively early stages of their life, since the footnotes are usually devoted to useful sources and materials and haven't yet become depressingly cumbersome bibliographical exercises in listing everything in sight so that no-one thinks you've missed something.

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