Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2010

with print disabilities, with more than 70,000 copyrighted works in our library, the majority of which have been created under the US copyright exception by volunteers, mainly people with disabilities themselves, helping each other. • We now have global permissions for around 8,000 copyrighted books out of our 70,000. •

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Wired

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

The Thomson Reuters decision has big implications for the battle between generative AI companies and rights holders.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 16, 2011

Statement of Benetech to the 22nd Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights at the World Intellectual Property Organization June 15, 2011, Geneva, Switzerland • Greetings from California’s Silicon Valley! Now, more than 30,000 current copyrighted books are available globally on Bookshare to thousands of users. •

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 7, 2013

First, it makes creating a national domestic copyright exception an obligation of countries that ratify the Treaty. Second, the Treaty allows for easier import and export of accessible versions of books and other copyrighted works. How Does the Treaty Meet this Goal? It does that in two main ways.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 27, 2011

There has been a major breakthrough recently on international copyright negotiations in Geneva around improved access for people who have print disabilities. Answer : A copyright exception makes it much easier for people with print disabilities to get access to the materials they need for education, employment and social inclusion.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 22, 2009

Guest Blog from Amy McNeely, Bookshare Librarian This past week, April 12th through April 18th, was National Library Week. Bookshare started as the sharing of copyrighted and public domain books in a central repository authorized by the Chafee Amendment by people with print disabilities for their own use. Bookshare is a unique library.

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The Verge

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Monday night, Congress approved an over $2 trillion government spending and coronavirus relief package that included a handful of controversial copyright and trademark measures. More importantly, there’s nothing in the text of the bill that suggests platforms’ moderation of everyday copyright violations would need to change.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

The goal of the Treaty is to make a copyright exception for the blind and other people with disabilities that stop them from reading print, and to make import and export of accessible content legal. Bureaucratic barriers to utilizing a copyright exception, as proposed by some publishers, makes the cost even greater.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 5, 2013

I’ve been actively advocating for an international copyright exception model that would greatly benefit people with disabilities, as anyone who has read my blog over the years can attest! copyright exception. After all, Benetech’s Bookshare initiative is the largest online library serving people with print disabilities in the world.

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TechSpot

JUNE 2, 2020

The Internet Archive back in March created the National Emergency Library, a controversial program that made more than 1.4 million eBooks available to borrowers without any wait times. The idea was to assist students through the remainder of the academic year and make it easier for ordinary citizens to access.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2010

A Policy Update from an engineer, Jim Fruchterman of Benetech June 8, 2010 The international copyright negotiations in Geneva around a proposed Treaty for the Visually Impaired (“TVI”) have been steadily heating up. Many developing countries don’t have a national group that serves in similar ways to the groups in wealthier countries.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

The third movement is the effort to make copyright exceptions a global norm , thus enabling easy import and export of accessible materials. National organizations of the blind, as well as WBU, need to keep the pressure on publishers to build accessibility into their products. thanks to our domestic copyright exception.

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TechCrunch

MAY 9, 2023

Generative AI and copyright law: What’s the future for intellectual property? Image Credits: Sean Gladwell (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Are AI-generated works eligible for copyright protection? Copyright Office’s document and examine multiple legal developments in the space.

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The Verge

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Amazon received a “blistering” letter last Thursday about copyright infringement and Twitch’s nonexistent licensing deals with major music rights holders, Variety reports. The document accuses Twitch of allowing streamers to play copyrighted music without getting the proper licensing to do so.

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The Verge

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Facebook didn’t disclose who its partners are, but this could theoretically mean that if a brand like National Geographic uploaded its photos to Facebook’s Rights Manager, it could then monitor where they show up, like on other brands’ Instagram pages. They’ll also specify where the copyright applies and can leave certain territories out.

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The Verge

JUNE 1, 2020

Four major book publishers have filed suit against the Internet Archive for copyright violations relating to the Open Library project , setting the stage for a major legal fight over one of the internet’s longest-running ebook archives. Crucially, the project circumvents the typical licensing restrictions used by conventional libraries.

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.orgSource

OCTOBER 31, 2023

Also on her agenda is how copyright law and fair use apply to AI. I invited several colleagues to join me to describe their experiences using AI and offer tips on how you can experiment with this new technology. She’ll review data privacy and security, accuracy and reliability, and responsible innovation.

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The Verge

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

Virtual world-building platform Roblox has settled a lawsuit with the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and is negotiating potential deals with individual music publishers. The NMPA sued Roblox in June for letting users upload copyrighted songs into its shared library of game-building assets.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

Section 121 of the Copyright Act, also known as the Chafee Amendment (17 U.S.C. Bookshare actively cooperates with the Library of Congress in the provision of Bookshare’s services to people with disabilities, through its National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress (NLS).

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 29, 2011

The legal framework for Bookshare is the Section 121 copyright exception in federal copyright law: all Bookshare users must have a disability that qualifies under that section. Students do not have to be blind to qualify under the copyright exception. What is the school signup process for Bookshare?

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 15, 2009

Provisions designed to handle copyrighted materials could conflict with fundamental exceptions in copyright law like fair use of copyrighted works and the Chafee Amendment. These approaches usually lock out people with disabilities. Why have public decision-making? Citizen engagement is a core value of the Obama Administration.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 15, 2009

President Marc Mauer of the National Federation of the Blind just had an excellent op ed published by the Baltimore Sun entitled Bias against blind book lovers. Mauer does a great job in capturing the advocacy position of the Reading Rights Coalition. This is a case of dueling moral high grounds. The Authors Guild has lost the framing debate.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 20, 2008

Patrick's story is getting a lot of deserved attention nationally as a significantly disabled college student who hasn't let disabilities stop him from pursuing his dreams. Our Bookshare.org team is delighted that we've just added I Am Potential, by Patrick Henry Hughes to the Bookshare.org collection.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

That’s the lobbying position of some companies in the intellectual property field when implementing the new Marrakesh Copyright Treaty. Our experience successfully building Bookshare under the United States copyright exception, which has no such commercial availability limitation, informs this strong opinion.

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The Verge

OCTOBER 6, 2020

For everyone else, the lawsuit is about whether language compatibility is tantamount to copyright infringement. But far away from Silicon Valley, there’s been a sea change that encompasses much more than a mere $6 billion and the future of copyright law. In the 1996 software copyright case Lotus v. When Google v. When Google v.

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The Verge

JUNE 14, 2020

After four commercial publishers filed a lawsuit earlier this month, the Internet Archive ended its National Emergency Library program earlier than planned, the organization said in a blog post (via ArsTechnica ). Photo by Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images.

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The Verge

OCTOBER 30, 2021

The US Attorney’s office for the southern district of New York and the FBI have charged Joshua Streit, 30, with illegally streaming content from MLB, as well as from the National Hockey League (NHL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Football League (NFL).

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 13, 2011

And we’re busy discussing with educators and publishers how we can bring Bookshare-style accessible content to the ten times as many students who could benefit from talking books but don’t qualify under the very limited copyright exemption. If we’re going to speak truth to power, then we need to make sure that we are speaking truth.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2015

This historic international copyright exception treaty paves the way for a future in which people who cannot read regular printed materials can have equal access to books, regardless of where they live. We also recommend that you coordinate with your national association of the blind as you consider ratification.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 13, 2009

The National Federation of the Blind came out with a strong statement objecting to the author position : admitting the authors’ argument would set blind people and disability access back years. If people starting taking audio versions of their Kindle books and distributing them, they would of course be violating copyright.

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The Verge

JUNE 10, 2021

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has sued Roblox for letting users upload music from Ariana Grande, Imagine Dragons, deadmau5, and other artists without paying a licensing fee. Image: Roblox. The lawsuit seeks $200 million in damages and a court order that will make Roblox crack down on piracy.

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Saleforce Nonprofit

JANUARY 14, 2022

The National Aquarium opened on August 8, 1981 as the jewel of Baltimore City’s Inner Harbor redevelopment. With a mission to inspire conservation of the world’s aquatic treasures, the Aquarium is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top three aquariums, and as Maryland’s largest paid tourist attraction.

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.orgSource

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

One of the biggest is whether AI-generated content is protected by copyright law. Panelists: Jennifer Pitts, Vice President, Products, Programs and Certification, National Association for Healthcare Quality. The use of AI in IP also raises additional questions. Another is how fair use applies to AI-generated content.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2014

Canadians with disabilities will now have access to Bookshare through their public libraries and the Canadian National Institute of the Blind. The Lavelle Foundation is supporting us to expand Bookshare in India, which will likely be our first full-scale replication of Bookshare outside the U.S.

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The Verge

JULY 6, 2021

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) sued the company last month for allegedly enabling piracy, accusing Roblox of profiting when users upload copyrighted songs and share them within Roblox experiences. Roblox’s popularity has earned it positive and negative attention from the music industry.

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Nonprofit Tech for Good

MARCH 8, 2013

Used widely throughout the globe, FrontlineSMS has empowered a texting revolutionat the grassroots by nonprofits in developing nations and has become a beacon for social good in mobile technology. It’s good for branding your nonprofit and protecting the copyright of your photos. Meetup :: meetup.com. noCloud :: npcloud.org.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

Delivering Benetech''s statement to the WIPO diplomatic conference That’s why I’ve been actively advocating for a global copyright exception modeled after the great exception in the United States that made Bookshare possible. The sad truth is that millions of people with print disabilities around the world continue to be left behind.

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