[Random-bits] WIPO Press Release on Broadcast treaty

[James Love]

*  Different views were also expressed on the scope of rights to be 
granted. Some delegations supported limiting protection to rights 
necessary to fight signal piracy, to avoid overlap with content-based 
rights held by authors, performers or producers. Views also differed on 
the question of the term of protection of any new rights.

Press Release 386/2004
Geneva, June 10, 2004
	
WIPO MEMBER STATES MAKE SIGNIFICANT HEADWAY IN TALKS ON BROADCASTERS’ RIGHTS



  Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 
made significant progress towards updating international intellectual 
property standards for broadcasting in the information age. The Standing 
Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), which met in Geneva 
from June 7 to 9, 2004, recommended that the WIPO General Assembly, the 
Organization’s top decision-making body, consider convening a diplomatic 
conference on the protection of broadcasting organizations. A diplomatic 
conference is the final step in developing a new international treaty. 
Endorsement of the SCCR recommendation by the General Assembly at its 
September 2004 session would be a significant step forward in this process.

"We welcome the adoption by the SCCR of a resolution asking the WIPO 
General Assembly to consider convening a diplomatic conference at an 
appropriate time. This was possible because most member states are 
confident that differences on this important issue can be narrowed in a 
reasonable time frame, thus paving the way for the adoption of a new 
treaty that would update the rights of broadcasting organizations," said 
Mrs. Rita Hayes, Deputy Director General who oversees WIPO’s work in the 
area of copyright.

Updating the IP rights of broadcasters, currently provided by the 1961 
Rome Convention on the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms 
and Broadcasting Organizations, began in earnest in 1997. A growing 
signal piracy problem in many parts of the world, including piracy of 
digitized pre-broadcast signals, has made this need more acute.

Noting the cultural importance of the broadcasting sector in all 
countries, SCCR Chair Mr. Jukka Liedes of Finland stated that the SCCR 
session had "created a roadmap towards a new international instrument, 
the goal of which was to balance the real needs of broadcasters with 
those of other rightholders and society at large."

Differences remain on issues such as the scope of a new treaty and its 
beneficiaries, namely whether only traditional broadcasters should be 
protected or whether protection should also extend to cablecasters and 
webcasters, entities that transmit directly over the Internet. Different 
views were also expressed on the scope of rights to be granted. Some 
delegations supported limiting protection to rights necessary to fight 
signal piracy, to avoid overlap with content-based rights held by 
authors, performers or producers. Views also differed on the question of 
the term of protection of any new rights.

The next meeting of the Committee will take place from November 17 to 
19, 2004, and will discuss a revised text containing brackets around 
proposals having obtained limited support, such as protection of 
webcasters. Based on its review of the new text, the November Committee 
meeting could recommend dates for the diplomatic conference.

The SCCR also considered the issue of protection of non-original 
databases. Collections of data, such as telephone directories, which are 
not sufficiently original to qualify for copyright, may still deserve 
protection for the significant investment in their creation and 
maintenance, and to avoid unauthorized copying and dissemination, for 
example, over the Internet. The Committee decided to revisit the matter 
in the second half of 2005.

The SCCR was attended by delegates from 90 member states, and 8 
intergovernmental and 55 non-governmental organizations, including 
policy-makers, representatives of broadcasting organizations and the 
content industries (such as film and music), users and consumer 
organizations.

For further information, please contact the Media Relations and Public 
Affairs Section at WIPO:

     * Tel: (+41 22) - 338 81 61 or 338 95 47
     * Fax: (+41 22) - 338 88 10
     * Email: publicinf@wipo.int.
-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:james.love@cptech.org
tel. +1.202.387.8030, mobile +1.202.361.3040