[Ecommerce] Financial Times: US retreat opens way for treaty on broadcasting

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

US retreat opens way for treaty on broadcasting
By Frances Williams in Geneva
Published: May 9 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 9 2006 03:00

The US has opened the way for a treaty updating broadcasters' rights for
the digital age by dropping its insistence that webcasting be covered by
the agreement.

The treaty, under negotiation by members of the World Intellectual
Property Organisation since 1997, will now cover satellite, terrestrial
and cable broadcasts.

The US backed down on webcasting - the use of the internet to transmit
programmes - only reluctantly after it became clear that the issue
threatened to block all progress. "The majority of member states did not
want webcasting and simulcasting included in the broadcasting treaty,"
Rita Hayes, Wipo deputy director-general, said. The decision to deal
with both issues separately was a win-win outcome for everyone, she added.

Broadcasters have been pushing hard for an updated pact to fight piracy
of digital signals and strengthen protection of programming as analogue
signals are phased out in favour of multi-channel digital transmissions.

But most countries argued that webcasting raised issues that required
further discussion, including the definition of webcasting, and whether
webcasters should be granted equivalent rights to traditional broadcasters.

"The majority of countries don't want webcasting in the treaty in any
shape, manner or form," said Tom Rivers, who advises Europe's commercial
television companies. "From the point of view of traditional
broadcasters, this is a major breakthrough."

The new treaty is likely to cover programming of traditional
broadcasters and cablecasters that is also made available online at
websites such as those of CNN and the BBC.

However, US companies with an interest in webcasting, such as Yahoo,
News Corporation, Microsoft and AOL/Time Warner, have been lobbying
Washington for similar rights to traditional broadcasters for
programming that is solely distributed on the internet.

Critics fear such a move would put up new barriers to accessing public
information and works by giving rights simply for the act of distribution.

Under the new timetable, another negotiating session will be held in
September ahead of Wipo's general assembly, which will be asked to set a
date in 2007 for a diplomatic conference to adopt the broadcasting treaty.

But Ms Hayes warned yesterday that there were still major divergences on
substantive issues and these might not be resolved before the diplomatic
conference itself. Wipo members are still split over the period of
protection, with most countries favouring 50 years but some wanting no
increase in the present 20 years.

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