[A2k] Financial Times: International broadcast treaty faces hurdles

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

<SNIP>

A disparate alliance between the US and developing countries led by
Brazil and India on Monday headed off plans for an international
broadcasting treaty that could have given broadcasters sweeping rights
over the use of broadcast material for up to 50 years.

Instead, the proposed new treaty will focus more narrowly on preventing
the theft of broadcast signals, which is costing traditional
broadcasters and cablecasters large sums in lost advertising and sales
income.


<SNIP>

At last month=92s committee meeting a number of countries, including the
US, Brazil and India, expressed reservations about convening a
diplomatic conference before the scope of the treaty had been agreed.

The US delegation to the Wipo assembly was told to block endorsement of
the committee=92s recommendation, meeting observers said.

<SNIP>

However, Rita Hayes, Wipo deputy director-general with responsibility
for the broadcasting talks, said the decision to narrow the scope to a
signals-based approach was =93a big step forward=94, noting that the main
purpose of the proposed pact had always been to prevent signal theft.

Negotiations to update for the digital age the broadcasting provisions
of the 1961 Rome Convention have been going on in Wipo since 1997. Last
May, the US unblocked the stalled talks by agreeing to remove webcasting
from the scope of the planned pact, which will cover terrestrial,
satellite and cable broadcasts.

A growing problem of signal piracy, including the hijacking of digitised
pre-broadcast signals, for example, of major sports events, has made the
need for a updated treaty more acute, Wipo says.


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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c1f8745e-522f-11db-bce6-0000779e2340.html


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    International broadcast treaty faces hurdles

By Frances Williams in Geneva

Published: October 2 2006 17:59 | Last updated: October 2 2006 17:59

A disparate alliance between the US and developing countries led by
Brazil and India on Monday headed off plans for an international
broadcasting treaty that could have given broadcasters sweeping rights
over the use of broadcast material for up to 50 years.

Instead, the proposed new treaty will focus more narrowly on preventing
the theft of broadcast signals, which is costing traditional
broadcasters and cablecasters large sums in lost advertising and sales
income.

After days of negotiations, the annual assembly of the World
Intellectual Property Organisation agreed on Monday to hold a diplomatic
conference in November next year to adopt the treaty, to be drafted =93on
a signal-based approach=94.

The accord comes less than three weeks after a Wipo committee
recommended going ahead with a diplomatic conference next July on the
basis of proposals such as giving broadcasters broad rights to authorise
or prevent the use of broadcast material.

Critics said these rights, superimposed on existing rights over content,
could stifle innovation and creativity and restrict access to
information in the public domain.

At last month=92s committee meeting a number of countries, including the
US, Brazil and India, expressed reservations about convening a
diplomatic conference before the scope of the treaty had been agreed.

The US delegation to the Wipo assembly was told to block endorsement of
the committee=92s recommendation, meeting observers said.

Wipo members have now agreed to hold two more committee meetings, in
January and June next year, to agree on the objectives and scope of a
signals-based treaty. If no accord is reached, the 2007 assembly will
have to decide how to proceed.

However, Rita Hayes, Wipo deputy director-general with responsibility
for the broadcasting talks, said the decision to narrow the scope to a
signals-based approach was =93a big step forward=94, noting that the main
purpose of the proposed pact had always been to prevent signal theft.

Negotiations to update for the digital age the broadcasting provisions
of the 1961 Rome Convention have been going on in Wipo since 1997. Last
May, the US unblocked the stalled talks by agreeing to remove webcasting
from the scope of the planned pact, which will cover terrestrial,
satellite and cable broadcasts.

A growing problem of signal piracy, including the hijacking of digitised
pre-broadcast signals, for example, of major sports events, has made the
need for a updated treaty more acute, Wipo says.