[A2k] United States intervention to WIPO plenary (Casting negotiations)

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=3Dcom_jd-
wp&Itemid=3D39&p=3D57#more-57



This statement was delivered by the United States of America to the
plenary of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights
on Tuesday, 19 June 2007.


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     Thank you Mr. Chairman. The United States would like to
congratulate you and your Vice-Chairs on your re-election.

     We are in important phase of the Standing Committee on Copyright
and Related Rights in this Special Session and your leadership and
diplomatic skills will be pivotal to advancing our discussions on a
possible new treaty on the protection of the rights of broadcasting
organizations.

     Mr. Chairman, the United States appreciates your efforts in
drafting non-papers in order to help us implement the decision of the
General Assemblies and focus on a signal-based approach to this treaty.
While your most recent non-paper is a good basis for our discussions,
there is much work to be done if we are all to reach agreement on a
revised basic proposal for a Diplomatic Conference.

     As you well know, the current draft basic proposal, document 15/2,
must be substantially narrowed to meet the criteria set forth in the
decision of the General Assemblies. The United States has stated in the
past our position that we do not support moving forward to a Diplomatic
Conference with such an unstable document. At a minimum, we believe a
draft basic proposal must include consensus on key provisions that
provide 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 the General Assembly directed, we
must agree on the objectives, specific scope and object of protection
at this meeting if we are to proceed to a Diplomatic Conference.

     As we have also noted before, the U.S. has concerns about certain
provisions relating to competition, cultural diversity and public
interest currently found in document 15/2 that we believe would
undermine any protection provided under the treaty. The United States
believes that resolution of those issues is integral to resolving the
objectives, specific scope and object of protection central to the
decision of the General Assembly. While your non-paper=92s approach to
the competition, cultural diversity and public interest issues would be
acceptable, any reversion to language on these issues similar to the
language that appears in document 15/2 would be unacceptable to the
Unites States. Unless we can reach agreement on these issues, we will
not satisfy the General Assembly mandate and will be unable to proceed
to a Diplomatic Conference.

     Throughout this process, the United States Government has sought to
achieve a treaty that is reasonably up-to-date given the state of
technology. Fundamental to this objective is a treaty that includes
protection for broadcasters against the unauthorized simultaneous
retransmission of their signals over the Internet. A major threat to
broadcasters arises when someone places their signal on the Internet
without permission. We see no point in concluding a treaty that does
not address this treat.

     We would also like to reiterate our concern about any Technological
Protection Measure language that varies from the language used in the
WIPO =93Internet Treaties, i.e., the WCT and WPPT. If there is a
provision concerning technological protection measures in this treaty,
we believe it should mimic the TPM provisions in the WCT and WPPT.

     The United States is also concerned that the rights granted to
broadcasters under this Treaty should in no way interfere with or
negate contracts that they have entered into with the content owner or
program producer.

     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. We hope al member
states will demonstrate the necessary flexibility so that we can
achieve a positive outcome. At the same time, we must caution that a
treaty that grants rights to broadcasters that interfere with the
rights of the creators of the programs that are transmitted by the
broadcasters. or that grants broadcasters rights that are greater in
scope than the rights of the owners of the copyrights in the programs
that the broadcasters transmit, would be unacceptable. We remain
committed to trying to agree and finalize, on a signal-based approach,
a revised basic proposal so that we can proceed to a Diplomatic
Conference, but nobody should underestimate the difficulty of achieving
the necessary consensus. We are confident that you will ably guide our
discussions going forward and we stand ready to assist you.



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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org