COPYCENSE

“World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) members have agreed to split off webcasting from their ongoing discussions on a potential new treaty intended to define the rights of broadcasters over their transmissions.

“The compromise was reached during the 1-5 May meeting of the ‘Standing Committee of Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR),’ the WIPO technical body that is considering the controversial draft proposal for a WIPO treaty on the protection of the rights of the broadcasting organizations (SCCR/14/2). Talks on the issue started in 1999; the first draft basic treaty proposal was tabled in 2004 (SCCR/11/3).

“The driving force behind the negotiations has been broadcasting organisations’ desire to obtain a level of protection for their transmissions similar to the rights accorded by the 1961 Rome Convention to performers and the recording industry for their works — albeit updated to account for decades’ worth of technological advances, notably the switch to digital transmission. The draft treaty proposes to grant the organisations exclusive rights to authorize the distribution and re-transmission of their broadcasts.

“During the course of the negotiations, the issue of webcasting — which refers to transmission by wire or wireless means over the internet — entered the debate, primarily backed by the U.S. Eventually, negotiators agreed to divide the issues into two separate tracks.”

Bridges Weekly News Digest, International Centre for Sustainable Trade & Development. WIPO Moves Forward On Broadcasting Treaty, Webcasting Talks Split Off. May 10, 2006.

See also:

James Love. WIPO Carves Up the Internet (and the Broadcast Spectrum). The Huffington Post. May 4, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.