[A2k] WIPO Press release: MOMENTUM BUILDS IN TALKS ON UPDATING RIGHTS OF BROADCASTING ORGANIZATIONS

[James Love]

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/prdocs/en/2006/wipo_upd_2006_274.html

Update 274
Geneva, May 8, 2006
MOMENTUM BUILDS IN TALKS ON UPDATING RIGHTS OF BROADCASTING
ORGANIZATIONS

Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
agreed last week on a way forward in addressing questions relating to
updating the rights of broadcasting organizations by following a
parallel process in dealing with questions relating to traditional
broadcasting and cablecasting organizations and the issues of
webcasting and simulcasting. At the end of the week-long meeting in
Geneva, from May 1 to 5, 2006, member states agreed to hold an
additional meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related
Rights (SCCR) ahead of the annual meeting of the WIPO General
Assembly to further strengthen consensus on questions relating to the
rights of traditional broadcasters and cablecasters. In that context
the General Assembly in autumn 2006 would be able to recommend the
convening of a diplomatic conference to conclude a treaty in 2007.
Member states agreed that the questions of webcasting and
simulcasting would continue to be examined by a meeting of the SCCR
after the General Assembly.

WIPO Deputy Director General, Mrs. Rita Hayes, who oversees WIPO=92s
copyright activities, said "We are very pleased that member states
have been able to agree on a framework to move forward in their work
on these important questions. We are very encouraged by the
constructive and cooperative spirit of the discussions which show a
serious willingness on the part of the member states to find balanced
solutions to these questions." "The transparent and inclusive
character of the process will, I am confident, enable the further
strengthening of consensus on these questions in the coming months,"
she added.

Discussions at last week=92s SCCR (14th Session) were based on a Draft
Basic Proposal for the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting
Organizations Including Non-Mandatory Appendix on the Protection in
Relation to Webcasting (document SCCR/14/2) and a Working Paper for
the Preparation of the Basic Proposal for a Treaty on the Protection
of Broadcasting Organizations (SCCR/14/3) as well as additional
submissions by the Governments of Colombia (SCCR/14/4) and Peru.

Delegates agreed that the next meeting of SCCR (15th session) will be
confined to the protection of broadcasting organization and
cablecasting organizations in the traditional sense and that
discussions will be based on a revised draft basic proposal prepared
on the basis of existing documents and proposals and taking into
account discussions of the Committee. The SCCR also agreed that a
revised proposal on the protection of webcasting and simulcasting
would be prepared on the basis of the Basic Proposal (SCCR/14/2) and
other existing proposals and taking into account last week=92s
discussions. It was also agreed that the matter would be taken on the
agenda of a meeting of the SCCR to be convened after the WIPO General
Assembly.

Updating the IP rights of broadcasters, currently provided by the
1961 Rome Convention on the Protection of Performers, Producers of
Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, began at WIPO in 1997. A
growing signal piracy problem in many parts of the world, including
piracy of digitized pre-broadcast signals, has made this need more
acute.

For further information, please contact the Media Relations and
Public Affairs Section: Tel: (+41 22) 338 8161 or 338 9547 Fax:
(+4122) 338 8280; E-mail: publicinf@wipo.int.


---------------------------------
James Love, CPTech / www.cptech.org / mailto:james.love@cptech.org /
tel. +1.202.332.2670 / mobile +1.202.361.3040

"If everyone thinks the same: No one thinks."  Bill Walton