New Zealand a Step Closer to Ending “Book Famine”
With an estimated 90% of all written works published worldwide not available in formats accessible to people with a print disability, the 2013 Marrakesh Treaty was created to “facilitate access to published works for persons who are visually impaired” by amending the copyright laws of party nations to make accessible format copies of works. In Australia, the Copyright Act was amended in an effort to do this. New Zealand has not yet implemented the Marrakesh Treaty, but a new Bill is currently making its way through parliament to make works more accessible without infringing copyright. We were joined by Dr Kylie Pappalardo, lecturer and researcher at QUT’s Law School, to discuss the significance of these proposed amendments in hopefully ending the “book famine” for disabled persons.
