[A2k] Manon Ress (WIPO Casting Treaty): Summary of notes Day 2 "Moving toward a dip conf"

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.cptech.org/blogs/wipocastingtreaty/2006/09/summary-of-notes-day-2-moving-toward.html


    Tuesday, September 12, 2006


      Summary of notes Day 2 "Moving toward a dip conf"

/by Manon Ress/

Summary of notes of Day 2 of the WIPO Broadcasting Treaty

The buzz is that it's moving fast toward a diplomatic conference.....

The morning session that was scheduled last night started at 10 and did
not last long because the chair asked delegations to meet informally to
resolve differences. The room was packed and for the first time WIPO did
not provide extra chairs and there was no "room B" where one could at
least listen to the proceedings.

The committee ended its discussion on rights and limitations and
exceptions (and TPM). Korea, Singapore and other called for a diplomatic
conference, South Africa made an excellent intervention asking questions
about the broad scope and lack of clarity. Like Iran, the delegation
stated that the proposed text be cleaned of ambiguous terms. South
Africa supports the non exhaustive list of limitations and exceptions
and want TPM provision deleted.

During lunchtime, the civil Society Coalition hosted a briefing in room
B. Representatives from a coalition that signed a joint statement and
representatives of organizations that signed onto a proposal for a
signal protection only proposal expressed their concerns regarding the
treaty.

Here is the list of presenters: Jeffrey Lawrence, Director, Global
Content Policy Intel Corporation; Sarah B. Deutsch, Vice President &
Associate General Counsel Verizon Communications; Matthew Schruers,
Senior Counsel for Litigation & Legislative Affairs, Computer &
Communications Industry Association (CCIA);Nick Ashton-Hart Adviser, NGO
& Industry Coalition, Former Executive Director International Music
Managers Forum (IMMF), James Love Director
Consumer Project on Technology, Respondent: Mr. Sisule Musungu, Acting
Coordinator, Innovation, Access to Knowledge and Intellectual Property
Programme (IAIPP) South Centre.

Main points were there's no justification for the treaty, no evidence
was given by demandeurs, the current rights-based approach of the treaty
must be abandoned, intermediary liability is not resolved, and impact on
innovation.

Sisule Musungu, noted that while people say that the treaty has been
under discussion for "9 long years", the committee has in fact only met
(at most) for 66 days...and that may not be enough "substantial
discussions" for a treaty of such importance and that will last for
maybe a century!

And the following afternoon session was a case in point. There were very
few substantial interventions. Switzerland supports the scheduling of a
diplomatic conference and wants limitations and exceptions as suggested
by the US corresponding to the WPPT. The Dominican Republic supports
flexible limitations and exceptions as proposed by Chile, brazil and
Perou. They are not really opposed to TPM but warned that they should
not be detrimental to the public interest.

At 5pm, the committee had a break and will meet again. The plan is
(maybe) to hear the African group position on rights and limitations and
exceptions and then to start the "assessment".


Back from break
Nigeria on behalf of the African group expressed caution regarding
access to knowledge and information and TPM. They support a study on the
impact of such provisions. Morocco, Kenya, Benin and Egypt spoke briefly
to support the convening of a diplomatic conference in 2007. They all
emtnioned the long years of discussions.

Break at 6pm, we;ll be back at 7:45 to discuss how the process will move
forward.
/posted by Manon Ress at 9:18 AM
<http://www.cptech.org/blogs/wipocastingtreaty/2006/09/summary-of-notes-day-2-moving-toward.html>/