*EPF218 01/21/2003
Text: Intellectual Property Rights Protection Advanced in 2002
(WIPO reviews progress towards protecting rights in cyberspace) (1210)

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) says 2002 marked a milestone in the history of copyright law with the entry into force of two treaties that protect against the unauthorized use of works on the Internet and other digital networks.

In a January 20 statement reviewing its work during the previous year, the organization said the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) modernize copyright law for the digital age and will help composers, artists, writers, and performing artists use the Internet to distribute their works and control their use.

The WCT and WPPT were agreed in 1996 and entered into force on March 6 and May 20, 2002, respectively. To date, 39 countries have signed both treaties.

WIPO said its focus in 2003 would be on ensuring wider adherence to the WCT and WPPT and helping countries with implementation.

The organization also said it would work in the coming year to advance negotiations relating to performers' rights and protection for broadcasting organizations, and to address issues such as the protection of databases, the responsibility of Internet service providers, voluntary copyright recordation systems and the protection of folklore, among other issues.

Earlier in January, WIPO reported that some 54 instruments of accession to or ratification of treaties related to intellectual property were deposited in 2002. Of the total, 54 percent of the accessions or ratifications came from developing countries, 42 percent from countries in transition to a market economy and 4 percent from developed countries.

WIPO is responsible for promoting the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among states, and for the administration of various multilateral treaties dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property.

The total number of WIPO member states as of December 31, 2002, was 179.

Following is the text of the WIPO statement:

(begin text)

World Intellectual Property Organization
Geneva, January 20, 2003

2002 Marks Turning Point in International Copyright Law

The entry into force of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Phonograms and Performances Treaty (WPPT) in 2002 marked a milestone in the history of copyright law and signaled greater security for all categories of creators in cyberspace by providing the legal basis to prevent unauthorized use of their works on digital networks such as the Internet. These two ground-breaking treaties bring copyright law in line with the digital age and promise to open new horizons for composers, artists, writers, and performing artists such as singers and musicians, producers and other business, to use the Internet with confidence to create, distribute and control the use of their works within the digital environment.

The WCT and WPPT were agreed in 1996 and became law on March 6 and May 20, 2002 respectively. To date 39 countries have signed up to both the WCT and WPPT. These treaties are of key importance as they will help to boost the future development of the Internet, electronic commerce and the culture and information industries by ensuring the quality and authenticity of digital content. This will enable creators, performers, producers and associated industries to reap the financial rewards of their talent, creativity and investment.

The focus in 2003 will be to ensure much wider adherence to the treaties and help countries to effectively implement the two treaties. Also, efforts will center on creating wider public awareness of the treaties and of the use of protected works on the Internet.

With regard to the issue of protection of performers' rights in their audiovisual performances, WIPO member states will shortly decide on a possible ad hoc informal meeting aimed at re-launching international discussions on outstanding issues. The meeting will be open to all WIPO member states and interested intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances in December 2000 had made significant progress in shoring up the rights of performers in their audiovisual performances.

Performers currently enjoy international protection for their performances under the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (the Rome Convention) and under the WPPT, which modernizes and updates these standards to cover use of their performances on the Internet. These conventions, however, grant protection mainly in relation to sound recordings of performances, and they only address the audiovisual aspects of performances to a very limited extent.

The successful conclusion of an international instrument for the protection of audiovisual performances would strengthen the position of performers in the audiovisual industry by providing a clearer legal basis for the international use of audiovisual works, both in traditional media and in digital networks. Although the primary beneficiaries of such an agreement are performers, mainly actors and musicians, producers and distributors also stand to benefit through harmonization of protection in different nations thereby facilitating international commerce and the exchange of films and television programs between countries. The making of a film or other audiovisual work involves contributions from many different individuals often from a variety of countries. Increasingly, the film productions that are delivered to our cinema and television screens are produced and financed across national borders. Such arrangements underline the importance of creating an international operating environment which balances different interests and defines the intellectual property rights of the parties involved.

In the field of broadcasting rights, WIPO member states made progress in international discussions on the rights to be granted to broadcasting organizations in a possible new multilateral treaty, which would, if adopted, update international regulations in this area bringing them in line with today's technological developments and market behavior.

Talks to update the intellectual property rights of broadcasters, which are currently dealt with in the 1961 Rome Convention, began in the 1990s. The advent of radically new types of communications, content, creation and distribution, especially over the Internet has made it necessary to review and upgrade existing international standards to ensure an appropriate balance between the different interests of all stakeholders and those of the general public.

While there is agreement on the need to upgrade these rights, differences still exist between member states on key issues. First, these relate to who should be the beneficiaries, namely whether only organizations which broadcast over the air are to be given better protection, or whether such protection should be extended to cablecasters and certain categories of webcasters. Secondly, they relate to the rights to be granted to those beneficiaries, in particular, the right of fixation, the right of reproduction of fixations, the right of re-broadcasting, the right to decrypt encrypted broadcasts, and the right to rent fixations of broadcasts to the public.

In addition to broadening the membership of the WCT and WPPT, and to fostering progress in the negotiations relating to performers' rights and protection for broadcasting organizations, WIPO's copyright activities in the coming year would gradually also cover issues such as the protection of databases, the responsibility of Internet service providers (ISPs), applicable law in respect of international infringements, voluntary copyright recordation systems, resale right or "droit de suite," the economics of copyright, collective management of copyright and related rights, protection of folklore, ownership of and authorization to use multimedia products and practical aspects of implementation of the WCT and WPPT.

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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