During discussions at the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) on the broadcasting treaty, the following proposal of the United States (on Article 9-Protection for Broadcasting Organizations) was distributed in the plenary (following requests by Kenya and Ecuador to see the proposal in writing). While the compromise approach presented by the United States avoids protection of the content carried by signals and excludes post-fixation rights, the US proposal’s technology neutral approach would permit the retransmission right to extend “over any medium” including over computer networks.
United States Intervention on Article 9
Compromise approach for consideration:
- Deal only with broadcasting and cablecasting organizations “in traditional sense” as referred to in the 2007 GA mandate
- Provide a single right, not a catalogue of rights as in the WPPT
- Focus on the core problems today: piracy of signals, as they are sent out to public or prepared to be sent
- Essence: No unauthorized retransmission of the signal to the public
- Avoid protection of the content carried by the signal
- No post-fixation rights
Elements:
- “Retransmission”
- Over any medium, so technically neutral
- Limited to simultaneous or near-simultaneous retransmission
- “Near-simultaneous” defined as delayed only to the extent necessary to accommodate time differences or to facilitate the technical transmission of the signal
- “To the public”
- Wouldn’t affect private uses
- “Signal”
- Not the content carried by the signal
- Include “pre-broadcast” signal
- I.e., signal transmitted to broadcasting organizations and not intended for direct reception by the public
Advantages:
- Short and simple
- Doesn’t create more rights than necessary
- No overlap with rights in content, no extra layers of protection created
- Confirms and clarifies the protection broadcasters most need at the international level – to prevent signal piracy, including over the internet and including pre-broadcast signals
- Flexibility–allows countries to provide a greater range of rights in their own laws (as some already do)
- Avoids the need for a defined term of protection (because retransmission must be simultaneous or near-simultaneous)
- Addresses concerns that have been expressed regarding potential impact on consumers and private uses