[A2k] Statement by the United States @ WIPO SCCR (Day 1)

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://fromgeneva.blogspot.com/2007/01/statement-by-united-states-wipo-
sccr.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

Statement by the United States @ WIPO SCCR (Day 1)

January 17, 2007

The United States Government would like to congratulate the Chair and
his Vice-Chairs on their election and also welcome and congratulate the
new Deputy Director General of WIPO. Mr. Chairman, the United States
supports the statement of Italy on behalf of Group B. We are in an
important phase of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related
Rights as we start this Special Session and your leadership, and
well-known diplomatic skills, will be pivotal to advance and conclude a
new treaty on the protection of the rights of broadcasting
organizations. We support the method of work you have outlined this
morning, and will offer comments on your papers at the appropriate
time.

The United States was pleased with the decision of the 33rd Session of
the General Assemblies to hold 2 special sessions of the Standing
Committee on Copyright and Related Rights to clarify the outstanding
issues. That decision states that =93the sessions of the SCCR should aim
to agree and finalize, on a signal-based approach, the objectives,
specific scope and object of protection with a view to submitting to
the Diplomatic Conference a revised basic proposal, which will amend
the agreed relevant parts of the Revised Draft Basic Proposal of SCCR
15/2. The Diplomatic Conference will be convened if such agreement is
achieved.=94

The United States continues to believe in, and will be guided in this
meeting and the June meeting by, the critical question of what do
broadcasters need at a minimum to protect against the unauthorized
interception and transmission of their signals, and by the
consideration that any protection should be based on answering that
important question.

The expectation of the United States is that the decision of the
General Assemblies, focusing on a more limited and narrow signal-based
approach to this treaty, will be respected. To that end, all of us have
an important opportunity and responsibility to revise the current basic
proposal, 15/2. As we stated at the September 2006 SCCR and repeated at
the General Assemblies, proceeding to a Diplomatic Conference using a
108 page document with few agreed provisions does not make for a text
stable enough to be considered a Basic Proposal.

15/2, in our view, must be substantially narrowed to meet the criteria
set forth in the decision of the General Assemblies. At a minimum, we
believe this means agreement on the scope of protection providing
broadcasters with what they need to protect against signal piracy while
not undermining the rights of the underlying content holders or the
public interest. As we have noted before, certain provisions in the
current draft would undermine any protection provided under the treaty.
The United States believes that resolution of those issues is integral
to resolving the scope and object of protection. Furthermore, we must
be sure to avoid any unintended consequences with regard to current and
future technological advances. Protection for technological protection
measures and exceptions and limitations consistent with international
treaties remain critical components for any convention.

Throughout this process, the United States Government has sought to
achieve a treaty that is reasonably up-to-date given the state of
technology now and in the reasonably foreseeable future. Fundamental to
this is a treaty including, at a minimum, protection for its
beneficiaries against the unauthorized simultaneous retransmission of
broadcast signals over the Internet. We consider the major threat to
broadcasters today to be that which arises when someone places their
signal on the Internet without permission.

Since the beginning of our discussions at WIPO on this issue of
protection for broadcasters, the United States has scaled back its
ambition for the treaty as reflected by the withdrawal of its own
proposal which proposed, on a technologically neutral basis, protection
for netcasting organizations. The United States believes that
flexibility in this process is required of all member states in order
to achieve an agreement that will enjoy consensus. However, an
agreement without identifiable benefits for broadcasting and
cablecasting organizations will be a pointless exercise, particularly
if it derogates from existing protections and sets negative precedents.

We hope all member states will demonstrate the necessary flexibility so
that we can achieve a positive outcome. We remain committed to the
successful conclusion of a treaty that responds to the needs of all
stakeholders. We are confident that you will ably guide our discussions
going forward and we stand ready to assist you.

------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
CPTech
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@cptech.org