Copyright refers to the bundle of rights given by law to authors of original artistic and literary works. These rights are grouped into “economic rights” and “moral rights.” The former refers to the material or financial gain due the artist, while the latter pertains to the intangible or non-material rights due him, such as the right of attribution.

However, exceptions and limitations to the exclusive rights of the author are allowed by our laws on copyright found in the Intellectual Property Code (Republic Act 8293). Many countries allow this flexibility in their national laws and so do certain international agreements and treaties. But since these exceptions and limitations are couched in general terms, they are vague and difficult to implement. Legislation and treaties are sometimes needed to clarify what should be exempted and to legally bind a national or the international community.

The Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is currently deliberating on a proposal to have a treaty on exceptions and limitations for copyright for visually impaired persons and other possible exceptions, such as public libraries and archives.

The treaty proposal, initiated by the World Blind Union and introduced in the SCCR by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay, was broadly supported by member-states of WIPO and was welcomed with an openness and willingness to discuss the proposal. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 314 million people in the world are visually impaired, 45 million of them are blind and about 87 percent of the total live in developing countries.

The Philippines expressed its full support for the treaty proposal, and is even a step ahead of many other countries in addressing this issue of access to knowledge for the visually impaired.

House Bill 4217 (introduced by Reps. Irwin C. Tieng, Rene M. Velarde, and Ma. Carissa O. Coscolluela) proposes granting “exemptions from securing permission from the publisher or copyright owner of printed materials to reproduce the same in a specialized format for the exclusive use of blind or visually impaired individuals.”

Resources for the Blind, one of the organizations that supports the visually impaired in the country, complain of extreme difficulties in dealing with book publishers in reproducing books in brail or audio format. They claim that publishers either demand unreasonable royalties or simply ignore their requests for permission, and often it is the latter.

It is estimated that about half-million Filipinos are blind and many more are visually impaired. Sadly, up to 100 children lose their sight every week (though half of these cases can be prevented through early detection and treatment), leaving a large segment of the population deprived of knowledge because of their disability.

A law that provides the blind and visually impaired access to knowledge will enable them to take their rightful place in society as well informed and productive citizens. In the words of Helen Keller, “Knowledge is love and light and vision.”

The author is the director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. Comments may be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .