[Ecommerce] Financial Times: Hopes fade for speedy agreement on digital rights treaty

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

Hopes fade for speedy agreement on digital rights treaty
By Frances Williams in Geneva and Tim Burt in London
Published: November 23 2004 02:00 | Last updated: November 23 2004 02:00

Hopes for a rapid conclusion of a treaty updating broadcasters' rights
for the digital age have receded after difficult negotiations last week
in Geneva failed to resolve most of the outstanding issues.


However, in what World Intellectual Property Organisation officials
described as a big step forward, the US retreated from its demand that
the new treaty cover webcasters, which transmit over the internet
directly or alongside traditional broadcasts.

"There was no support for the US proposal," Rita Hayes, Wipo deputy
director general, said yesterday.

Instead, the secretariat of Wipo, which has 180 member states, has
agreed to look at possible options for non-mandatory protection of webcasts.

US media groups had urged the extension of digital rights rules to cover
web-casters, fearing the internet would be used illegally to copy
programmes over high-speed broadband connections.

The broadcasters' pursuit of an updated treaty coincides with the
phasing out of traditional analogue transmissions.

Several countries, including the US, Britain and France, plan to switch
off analogue signals, replacing them with multi-channel digital
transmissions over the next 10 years.

Concerns over digital rights have escalated with the explosion in
multi-channel television and widespread piracy, particularly of smart
cards used to access pay-TV.

Divergences on other key issues remain wide in the talks, aimed at
updating a 1961 treaty. Ms Hayes said some of these would probably not
be resolved until the very last moment, when a diplomatic conference is
held to adopt the broadcasting treaty.

Wipo members recently decided that only the organisation's general
assembly, which meets annually in September, can call a diplomatic
conference.

This would make 2006 the earliest possible date if called next
September, but Ms Hayes said the general assembly decision would depend
on progress in the negotiations over the coming months.

Wipo members are still split over whether the treaty's scope should be
limited to signal piracy and for how long rights should be granted. Most
are pushing for 50 years but some want no increase on the present 20 years.

Other unresolved issues include the extent to which broadcasters' rights
should be constrained to allow use of broadcasts by educational
establishments, libraries and the disabled, and measures to prevent the
breaking of anti-piracy "locks" on digital signals.