WIPO Broadcasters Treaty Documents

Statement in PDF Format

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Public Knowledge does not believe that a broadcasting treaty is necessary. A large number of national and international instruments on copyright and related rights afford protection to the necessary parties.

This statement is also available in PDF format.

By now, the importance of WIPO and this Committee continuing work on exceptions and limitations to copyright is abundantly clear. This week’s presenters on exceptions and limitations all notably agreed that the Committee should address exceptions and limitations going forward, and we support the proposal by the honorable delegates from Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, and Uruguay to further work on these matters.

This document is also available in PDF format.

Why Copyright Exceptions and Limitations are Central to the WIPO Development Agenda

The WIPO General Assembly, in its session held in September 2008, adopted the Report on the Sessions of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) (WO/GA/36/4 Rev.). In adopting decision paragraph 11 of this document, the General Assembly approved the recommendations contained in paragraph 10, which included in section (c) the recommendation “to urge the General Assembly to encourage all Member States, the Secretariat and other relevant WIPO bodies to effectively implement the adopted recommendations.”

This document is also available in PDF format.

WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights 17th Session, Geneva, November 3-7, 2008

The undersigned organizations strongly support the decision of the 16th session of the SCCR to convene discussions on limitations and exceptions to copyright as a priority of the SCCR. We believe that it is timely and necessary for the SCCR to consider limitations and exceptions to copyright for the benefit of the world’s visually impaired community, for libraries and archives, for education of the world’s citizens, and for the development and delivery of innovative information services across national borders. WIPO Member States’ recent agreement to establish a work program on the WIPO Development Agenda underlines the relevance of these discussions, as technological developments have facilitated the routine exchange of information goods across national borders in more and more aspects of daily life.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Public Knowledge remains deeply concerned about the prospect of further work on the broadcast treaty.

Our previous concerns with the most recent draft of the treaty still stand.

Giving broadcasters rights in fixations of transmissions creates, at least in some jurisdictions, a new property right. This new grant of rights has never been adequately justified in terms of solving a concrete problem that is not already covered by existing agreements and existing law. The existence of competitive pressure alone is not a justification for a treaty.

On behalf of Public Knowledge, I would like to thank the Chair, and offer our congratulations on your election, as well as the election of the vice-chairs. Public Knowledge is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring a vibrant information commons. We look forward to the continuing work of this Committee upon the important work of exceptions and limitations, and thank the Brazilian, Chilean, Nicaraguan and Uruguayan delegations for their excellent proposal.

As technology advances, methods of reproduction and distribution become more available to the general public. Advancing technology also makes it easier to restrict both institutional and individual uses of works.

With these developments, it is ever more important to clarify the extent of the exclusive rights of authors. Establishing these metes and bounds will help ensure that users of works—the general public—may also be secure in our rights and freedoms to access, enjoy, and be inspired by these works.

We call upon WIPO delegates to reject the proposed WIPO Broadcast Treaty.

After more than 9 years of discussions, efforts to find a treaty formulation that deals with piracy of broadcast signals, but which does not harm copyright owners and the legitimate users of broadcasts have failed.

This statement is also available in PDF format.

STATEMENT CONCERNING THE WIPO BROADCAST TREATY PROVIDED BY CERTAIN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES, PUBLIC INTEREST ORGANIZATIONS, AND CREATIVE COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVES

The undersigned represent a broad and diverse group, united in common concern that the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations could harm important economic and public policy interests. Members of this group submitted a statement in connection with a forum held at the USPTO on September 5, 2006, and the issues identified in that earlier statement largely remain relevant. This Statement dated May 9, 2007 offers preliminary comments regarding the Chair’s “Non-paper on the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations” issued by WIPO on May 1, 2007.

Joint Statement of Certain Civil Society, Private Sector and Rightsholders Representatives for the First Special Session of the SCCR

This letter is also available in PDF Format.

The undersigned organisations represent a broad set of constituencies with a direct interest in the discussions underway regarding an international instrument relating to broadcasting.

Whilst we remain unconvinced that a treaty is necessary at all — and note that no convincing evidence has been presented that new international norms are required in this area — we do believe that a focussed, signal-protection-based Instrument to prevent piracy could be valuable. In the spirit of constructive engagement, we therefore submit the following for consideration of delegations:

A group of 12 consumer and public-interest groups have asked for Congress to hold hearings on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty before it is submitted to the WIPO General Assembly for consideration and for the U.S. Copyright Office to have a public proceeding to analyze the proposed treaty’s impact. The groups:

are troubled not only by the substance of the treaty, but also by the fact that the U.S. delegation, represented by the Library of Congress Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), have failed to engage in any public discussion about the effect of the treaty on consumers, industry, copyright holders and U.S. law.

The full text of the letter is available here (PDF).