World Braille Day

Thursday, 4 January, is World Braille Day. Celebrated by the United Nations since 2019, the day is observed to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication to enable full access to human rights for blind and partially sighted people.

Braille was invented in 1824 in France by Louis Braille (aged 15!). It represents alphabetic and numerical symbols based on six raised dots. The system even extends to musical, mathematical, and scientific symbols.

The connection between Braille and IP comes from the WIPO-administered Marrakesh Treaty that made the production and international transfer of Braille books easier. It does this by establishing a set of limitations and exceptions to traditional copyright law. The Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) adopted the Marrakesh Treaty on 27 June 2013 and celebrated its 10^th Anniversary last year.

The Treaty requires Contracting Parties to amend their legal systems to provide for a limitation or an exception to copyright to allow an individual affected by a print disability, or a governmental or ngo acting on behalf of such individuals, to undertake changes needed to make a copy of an otherwise copyright protected work in an accessible format such as in Braille or audiobook. In addition, Contracting Parties must permit the exchange of such accessible copies across borders.

India was the first country to change its laws to accommodate the Marrakesh Treaty in 2014, and Canada was the 20^th country to do so in 2016. This triggered the entry into force of the Treaty on 30 September 2016. The EU's Marrakesh Directive introduced amendments to the UK's copyright law in 2018. Since leaving the EU, the UK ratified the Marrakesh Treaty in its national capacity, providing continuity and legal clarity for rightholders, disabled people, and the individuals and organisations that support them.

There are now ninety-three countries that are Contracting Parties to the Treaty.