World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations. (Updated January 27, 2009)

摘要

Existing international agreements relevant to broadcasting protections do not cover advancements in broadcasting technology that were not envisioned when they were concluded. Therefore, in 1998 the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) decided to negotiate and draft a new treaty that would extend protection to new methods of broadcasting. The SCCR has not yet achieved consensus on a text. In recent years, a growing signal piracy problem has increased the urgency of concluding a new treaty, resulting in a decision by the WIPO General Assembly to restrict the focus of the treaty to signal-based protections for traditional broadcasting organizations and cablecasting. Consideration of controversial issues of webcasting (advocated by the United States) and simulcasting protections have been postponed. However, much work remains to achieve a final proposed text as the basis for formal negotiations to conclude a treaty. Despite a concerted effort to conclude a treaty in 2007, in June 2007 the SCCR decided that more time and work were needed. Further discussions occurred during SCCR meetings in 2008, but no decisions were made. The treaty remains an active item on the SCCR agenda. A concluded treaty would not take effect for the United States unless Congress were to enact implementing legislation and the United States were to ratify the treaty with the advice and consent of the Senate. Noting that the United States is not a party to the existing 1961 Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, various U.S. stakeholders have argued that a new broadcasting treaty is not needed, that any new treaty should not inhibit technological innovation or consumer use, and that Congress should exercise greater oversight over U.S. participation in the negotiations.