[A2k] OUT-LAW News 29/06/2007 - WIPO broadcast treaty defeated by web activists

[Barbara Stratton]

[ Converted text/html to text/plain ]

Apologies for cross-posting.
FYI
Barbara Stratton
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, UK
Member of IFLA-CLM
WIPO broadcast treaty defeated by web activists
OUT-LAW News, 29/06/2007 <http://www.out-law.com/page-8183[1]>
A controversial new intellectual property right due to be created by the Wo=
rld
Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has been successfully opposed by =
a
coalition of web activists and the technology industry.
WIPO has spent nearly 10 years gathering international agreement over a new
deal for broadcasters which would give them intellectual property rights ov=
er
broadcasts which would exist in addition to existing copyright laws.
But a campaign spearheaded by activist groups such as the Electronic Fronti=
er
Foundation (EFF) and involving thousands of podcasters and bloggers joined
with technology industry giants such as Intel and defeated the move last we=
ek.
The Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCRR) of WIPO met
last week to finalise a recommendation that the new proposal go to a specia=
l
conference for ratification by WIPO as a whole.
At the end of the meeting, though, there was not enough agreement between
member nations about the proposal and the Committee recommended that the
proposal not be forwarded to a diplomatic conference for adoption.
Gwen Hinze is the international affairs director for the EFF. She told week=
ly
technology law podcast OUT-LAW Radio <http://www.out-law.com/page-7212[2]>
about the opposition to the plans.
"If you create a new layer of rights that sit on top of copyright from a
consumer's point of view that raises questions about access to information,=
 so
information that might otherwise be in the public domain as a matter of
copyright law, the exceptions and limitations wouldn't apply and that raise=
s
some concerns about access to knowledge," said Hinze.
Podcasters were worried that the new right would affect material they produ=
ced
and their ability to disseminate it on their own terms. One and a half
thousand of them signed an EFF open letter to WIPO protesting against the
move.
Consumer electronics companies also protested because the plan contained
technological protection measures which they feared could give broadcasters
control over television recording equipment, such as TiVO boxes.
WIPO wanted the new rule to replace the Rome Convention of 1961, which it s=
ays
is out of date and does not cover cable televisions services.
The SCCRR had tried last autumn to have the rule proceed straight to
diplomatic conference for ratification, but the General Assembly said that =
two
more meetings were needed to hammer out international consensus on the move=
.
Opponents agree that television signal piracy is a problem that must be
solved, but say that it can be solved with a 'signals based approach' rathe=
r
than by creating an entire new intellectual property right.
"There is quite a significant body of people who have joined together and
would back a signal based approach to a treaty," said Hinze. "So for instan=
ce
in January there was a joint statement from a number of civil society group=
s,
a number of tech companies and a number of library groups all in support of=
 a
signal based approach, giving broadcasters protection for their signals but
not creating an exclusive rights approach that would have the unintended
consequences that I have raised."
See: OUT-LAW Radio
See also:
Broadcast treaty needs sounding out, says WIPO, OUT-LAW News, 04/10/2006
Broadcasting treaty is closer to becoming law, OUT-LAW News, 22/09/2006
Tech companies oppose WIPO treaty on TV rights, OUT-LAW News, 07/09/2006
Plans for new broadcasting rights anger podcasters, OUT-LAW News, 21/06/200=
6
OUT-LAW.COM is part of international law firm Pinsent Masons
=A9 Pinsent Masons 2000 =96 2007

=3D=3D=3DReferences:=3D=3D=3D
  1. http://www.out-law.com/page-8183
  2. http://www.out-law.com/page-7212