Protection of Broadcasting Organisations
Talks to update international protection of broadcasting organisations are currently taking place within WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). Indeed, given technological developments, most of the WIPO Member States consider that the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers and Broadcasting Organisations adopted on October 26, 1961 has to be modernised and improved. Concerning the rights to be granted, it has to be noted that, despite the consensus about the objective of the possible instrument, that is, to combat signal against piracy, most proposals submitted to the SCCR include economic rights which clearly relate to the exploitation of the content and not to the protection of the signal itself.
However, if the aim of this possible new instrument is the protection of broadcasts against signal piracy, one must, when analyzing the rights granted to the broadcasting organisations under this new instrument, take the Rome Convention (the rights included in it are clearly signal oriented) as a starting point and update this Convention by granting protection (against signal piracy) for the new means of delivering signals used by the broadcasting organizations (such as the cable, the Internet). It must also be pointed out that broadcasting organisations already enjoy economic rights under existing treaties when they act as content producers. At the 12th session of the WIPO SCCR which took place from 17 to 19 November 2004 in Geneva, the discussions with respect to the protection of broadcasting organisations were revisited on the basis of a Revised Consolidated Text prepared by the chairman of the Committee, Mr. Jukka Liedes. The revised consolidated text is based on the proposals and discussions in the Standing Committee during the previous sessions. The Chair proposed the following recommendation to WIPO's General Assembly: A. Broadcasting organisations : 1. Documents to be prepared: - A second revised version of the Consolidated Text will be prepared by the chairman of the present session of the Standing Committee (=> Download file);
- A working paper on alternative non-mandatory solutions on the protection of webcasting organisations including simulcasting organisations will be prepared to accompany the second revised version (=> download PDF file);
2. Regional consultations: Regional consultations meetings will be organised by the International Bureau, as requested by the Member States; 3. 13th session - The next session of the Committee will take into account the progress made in the regional meetings;
- The Committee will in the light of the results of regional consultations consider the second version of the Consolidated Text and examine the working paper on alternative solutions on the protection of webcasting organisations.
For more information on this issue and on our position, we refer you to the following documents: - Protection of broadcasting organizations: terms and concepts (SCCR/8/INF/1), working paper prepared by WIPO Secretariat, SCCR, 8th Session, 4 -8 November 2002
=> Download PDF file ... - Protection of the rights of broadcasting organizations - Comparison of proposals of WIPO Member States and the European Community and its Member States (SCCR/10/3), received by September 15, 2003
=> Download PDF file ... - Joint Position of Right Holders on the Revised Consolidated Text for the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations, November 2004
=> Download PDF file ... - Joint Recommendation of Rights Holders on the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations, April 2003
=> See our position papers on this issue ... - The consolidated text for the protection of broadcasting organisations drafted by the Chairman of the SCCR - Joint reaction of right holders, May 2004
=> Download PDF file ... - Les discussions au sein du Comité Permanent du Droit d'Auteur et des Droits Connexes (SCCR) de l'OMPI sur la protection des organismes de radiodiffusion, AEPO seminar, 6 and 7 Octobre 2003
=> Download PDF file ... - WIPO website
=> Web page
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