More than half a million titles for blind and visually impaired
Libraries for the blind from Croatia, Spain, Latvia, Portugal and United Kingdom have recently added their collections to the Accessible Book Consortium (ABC), which brought the total number of books accessible to blind and visually impaired on Global Book Service beyond 500.000.
ABC is a public-private partnership under the flagship of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which includes different organizations and institutions for blind and visually impaired people and whose aim is to globally fulfill the goals set out in the Marrakesh Treaty and to increase the number of books worldwide in accessible formats. Pursuant to the Marrakesh Treaty, reproduction and cross-border exchange of books and other works in format accessible to blind and otherwise visually impaired people are allowed (Slovenia implemented the Directive 2017/1564 which enacts the Marrakesh Treaty with amendment to its Copyright Act, ZASP-H in November 2019).
ABC fulfills its purpose through the Global Book Service online portal that allows for cross-border exchange of books in accessible formats with the help of cooperating libraries and organizations. Recently, libraries for the blind and visually impaired from Croatia, Spain, Latvia, Portugal and UK joined ABC, which increased the Global Book Service’s collection well beyond half a million books in accessible formats.
For more information on the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty, see here.
The Grand Board of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) finally ruled that the figurative sign ‘COVIDIOT’ cannot be registered as an EU trademark.
The 4th Open Knowledge Day took place on Tuesday 17 October 2023, with an accompanying workshop on 18 October 2023. This year it was organised by the Open Data and Intellectual Property Institute (ODIPI) and supported by Knowledge Rights 21 (KR21).
We invite you to the fourth Open Knowledge Day and the workshop, which will take place this year within the framework of the programme and with the support of Knowledge Rights 21. The event will bring together experts from different European countries to discuss two topics: the first part will deal with the legal basis for data analytics, which is a key part of machine learning and related artificial intelligence, and the general exception for research. In the second part, open science in theory and practice will be presented both in Slovenia and in some Western Balkan countries. Representatives of research and educational institutions from Slovenia and the Western Balkan countries, as well as interested members of the public, are invited to attend.
Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič, a renowned expert in copyright law, has joined the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where she will serve as an affiliate researcher for the next two years.