[A2k] IP-Watch: WIPO Copyright Committee Done For Yea r; Exceptions And Limitations ‘Here To Stay ’

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-trackback.php?p=958


13 March 2008
WIPO Copyright Committee Done For Year; Exceptions And Limitations
‘Here To Stay’


By William New
The World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee on
Wednesday concluded work until next November in a way similar to
recent years, with the same chair, European dominance, no agreement,
and division over a proposed treaty on broadcasters’ rights.

But it also contained the elevation of a proposal to improve
exceptions and limitations to copyright, and a proposal for four new
agenda items: resale royalties, collective management, orphan works,
and applicable law.

“Exceptions and limitations is here to stay,” a supporting government
official said afterward.

The WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights met from
10 to 12 March. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for 3-7
November. With many changes made at the end, the final version of this
week’s meeting conclusions will not be available for days, a
secretariat official said.

The meeting conclusion appears to include a request to the secretariat
to make a study on exceptions and limitations for educational
activities, including distance learning and trans-border aspects. It
also may include a request to the secretariat to organise an
information session on studies at the next committee meeting, at which
the committee will consider a more detailed work plan, according to a
draft version of the conclusions and participants.

The Chilean proposal on exceptions and limitations, which is
cosponsored by Brazil, Nicaragua and Uruguay, includes a call for an
open forum and studies by WIPO (IPW, Copyright Policy, 11 March 2008),
ran into resistance from key developed countries, especially the
European Union but also the United States, participants said. But
proponents remained optimistic that the issue will receive full
treatment in the future. To some degree, the difference between
governments may be the speed with which the topic should progress.

A Slovenian official representing the European Union in the meeting
told Intellectual Property Watch afterward that Europe requires more
analysis of the exceptions and limitations proposal.

A US official told Intellectual Property Watch that the issue appears
to be adequately addressed under existing agreements and at the
national level but that it remains open to hearing evidence of the
need for further discussion on the issue. One US concern is the way
the language of the very first version of the proposal (from 2005)
characterised the connection between exceptions and limitations and
creativity. The original definition appears to overlook the view that
copyright has traditionally been seen as the driver of creativity, an
official said.

The statement given by nongovernmental Knowledge Ecology International
emphasised that the copyright system needs rebalancing by looking at
exceptions and limitations from the standpoint of the user and not
only copyright. KEI also suggested examining the Appendix to the Berne
Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in light
of new technologies.

A Chilean official said in an interview afterward that “the outcome
was very good,” because of the recognition that there is “a wide
number of delegates that are willing to engage in a constructive
process to provide a better understanding of the use of exceptions and
limitations in the context of a balanced copyright system.”

This would mean providing secondary creators and users legitimate
access to copyrighted work without authorisation or compensation in
certain cases that he said “are necessary to achieve important values
to society and economic and technological development.”

“Some delegations did not fully support the proposal because they
might have had some misunderstanding about the object of the work
being proposed,” the Chilean official said. “So I’m certain that once
we have further discussions we will be able to provide sufficient
answers and probably they will join this effort.”

Possible New Agenda Items

The four new items were proposed by the European Union for
consideration after the committee’s unfinished business, which
includes the broadcasting treaty, an audiovisual performances treaty,
and an agreement on minimum standards for exceptions and limitations
for certain uses such as public libraries, and persons with
disabilities like visual impairment.

According to a participant, resale royalties relate to success of
works after sale of the rights by their creators, collective
management relates to royalty collecting societies, orphan works are
those for whom the rightsholder cannot be found, and applicable law
relates to which country’s law applies in disputes.

The additional proposals came months after the meeting mandate was
handed out by the annual September-October WIPO General Assemblies,
and was seen by some as an attempt to draw attention away from the
proposal for an exceptions and limitations agreement that had taken
centre stage in the committee this year. The committee agenda has been
dominated for a decade by negotiations on a proposed broadcasting
treaty that collapsed last year.

But proponents of the additional agenda items said this was the first
meeting at which new ideas could be brought forward. It was the only
meeting of the committee between the last General Assemblies and the
next, as the meeting planned for last November was cancelled with the
notion that more time was needed to consider the committee work plan.

The United States made a statement supporting three out of the four
European agenda items, leaving out only resale royalties. A US
official said afterward that it did not support or oppose the idea.

There was no agreement on the additional agenda items, sources said.
Europe, meanwhile, led the push to revive talks on broadcasting, but
was joined by nations from a variety of geographical and economic
levels, including in Latin America and Africa, sources said. The issue
was said by some participants not to have advanced in the meeting.
Division among members also persisted on the audiovisual treaty
proposal.

NGOs Support Exceptions and Limitations

Winston Tabb, chairman of the International Federation of Library
Associations copyright committee, and on behalf of Electronic
Information for Libraries and the Library Copyright Alliance said
afterward, “The library community is pleased that exceptions and
limitations have become a focal point for SCCR. For librarians, who
are dedicated to increasing access to knowledge for library users, it
is a good omen that WIPO may yet be seen as an organisation committed
to equity and balance in copyright.”

“We were heartened that many member states expressed interest in
pursuing the discussion,” Tabb said. “There was also general support
to hold an information session on exceptions and limitations and for
taking steps to improve access to information for visually impaired
people.”

In its statement during the meeting, nongovernmental group Public
Knowledge supported the proposal for minimum international standards
and highlighted the importance of clarifying rights related to use and
the exclusive rights of authors. “It is necessary to update and
clarify minimum standards and principles for exceptions and
limitations,” Public Knowledge said. “This will better allow us to
deal with the new challenges created by digital media, including
technological protection measures and the rapid copying, storage, and
transmission of data.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also backed the proposal for
minimum international standards, and for studies and an open forum.
EFF highlighted successful global public domain projects and the
threats they face under the global copyright system.

European Digital Rights, EDRi, also stressed a focus on “ordinary
citizens” along with other users, and said that the value in many
consumer goods now lies in the software rather than the hardware,
making it necessary for software to “learn to live with” consumer
protection regulation.

EDRI highlighted the importance of limitations and exceptions to
protecting free speech, such as parody and satire, quotations for
criticism, and use of works in news reporting. “Copyright has a dark
history for being a tool for censorship and oppression of
controversial opinions,” he said.

Michael Keplinger, WIPO Deputy Director General responsible for
copyright and related rights, declined to comment on the meeting
afterward except to say that it was “successful.”

William New may be reached at wnew@ip-watch.ch.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997