Appendix A: Copyright Exceptions

Last Modified December 12, 2022

The Chafee Amendment to chapter 1 of title 17, United States Code, adds section 121, establishing a limitation on the exclusive rights in copyrighted works. The amendment allows authorized entities to reproduce or distribute copies or phonorecords of previously published literary or musical works in accessible formats exclusively for use by print-disabled persons. The Chafee Amendment has been amended several times, most recently in 2018 by the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act. Among other things, the 2018 amendment expanded the works covered by the Chafee Amendment from nondramatic literary works to all literary and musical works.

Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled.  The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted on June 27, 2013, in Marrakesh and it forms part of the body of international copyright treaties administered by WIPO. It has a clear humanitarian and social development dimension, and its main goal is to create a set of mandatory limitations and exceptions for the benefit of the blind, visually impaired, and otherwise print disabled (VIPs).