[A2k] Civil Society oral statement to the WIPO General Assembly 2006

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

Civil Society Coalition (CSC) Intervention to the WIPO General Assembly


Geneva, 27 September 2006


Thank you Vice-Chair. As this is the first time the Civil Society
Coalition is taking the floor, we congratulate you on your election as
Vice- Chair.

We are opposed to the convening of a diplomatic conference on a proposed
treaty for the protection of broadcasting, cablecasting and webcasting
organizations as we feel such a step is premature.

The current draft treaty's exclusive rights-based approach would create
a new intellectual property like right in broadcast signals, which would
be layered upon existing copyright in the underlying program material.
The CSC is opposed to the granting of intellectual property rights in
works to parties that simply schedule and transmit works.   So do many
many copyright owners.

The proposed treaty presents a threat to consumer, and copyright owners,
including millions of persons who release works under creative commons
licenses.

Up until the final moments of the 15th SCCR, there appeared to be
growing support for a more narrow treaty that would protect broadcasters
and cable casters against signal theft.

There should be no Diplomatic Conference until WIPO members can agree
upon the basic paradigm for the treaty.   Do we want a "rights"
approach, or a "signal theft" approach.  Once this issue is resolved, it
may be much easier to conclude a successful diplomatic conference.

Right now there is no agreement on anything, and a diplomatic conference
presents too many risks for everyone.

Thank you