WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Progresses, but More Work Remains
Defining "deferred transmission" is the key stumbling block in talks on a World Intellectual Property Organization treaty updating broadcaster protections against signal piracy, said Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights Chair Daren Tang during the Nov. 26-30 meeting. SCCR delegations need a "very, very firm discussion at the next round" of negotiations on deferred transmissions, said Tang, CEO of the Singapore Intellectual Property Office. He floated a revised consolidated document that for the first time gathers all proposals in one text. Stakeholders have some optimism but said more work remains.
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Tang's draft defines deferred transmission as being "for the reception by the public by any means of a programme-carrying signal [broadcast] delayed in time, other than a near simultaneous transmission, including transmissions made in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and time individually chosen by them." (Bracket indicates word stricken through in draft).
Negotiations got a boost this time from a new proposal by the U.S. (SCCR/37/7, here) on scope and implementation of rights. The U.S. delegate said during a plenary session that the U.S. gave considerable thought to how to bridge the gap between diverging positions on the treaty. Noting talks underway for years, she said the question is why it's so difficult to agree on scope, protections and rights. She said each member country has different laws for copyright and telecom, and delegations have been on shifting ground due to rapid changes in technology.
Under the U.S. proposal, broadcasting organizations would have the exclusive right to authorize retransmission of their program-carrying signals to the public. Governments wouldn't have to extend or alter copyright protections. It would be up to each to decide how the convention would be implemented. Argentina earlier proposed deferred transmissions be classified into equivalent deferred transmissions -- broadcasts by a broadcasting organization that correspond to linear broadcasts and are available to the public for only a limited time -- and other deferred transmissions like on VOD and on-demand streaming.
WIPO is pleased by delegations' "strong engagement" and Tang's "single text was perceived as a positive development," said Carole Croella, WIPO Copyright Office senior counselor, in an interview Monday. There was also a clarification transmissions of computer networks don't constitute broadcasting, she said. The next SCCR meeting is the first week in April.
"Not much happened on the substantial issues" because so much time was spent on Q&A on the U.S. and Argentinian proposals, emailed European Broadcasting Union Head-Intellectual Property Heijo Ruijsenaars: A single text is politically "a major step because having the US on board, we could say that the train has now left the station, as the rest of the work is improving the Chair's text for having it adopted next year as a Committee text." It's likely the next debate will be "driven mostly by copyright experts, as they have more experience with treaty-drafting," he said. A solution for the deferred transmission issue "will take most of the time, as this would be a new legislative issue," said Ruijsenaars.
Knowledge Ecology International believes key items up in the air include term of protection, definition of "making available" and limitations and exceptions, Director James Love emailed. One key issue, he noted in an observer statement during the meeting, is how to draw the line between traditional broadcasting and a different type of entity that competes with traditional broadcasters, such as Amazon Prime or Netflix. These new services have fewer rights than broadcasters but are more successful, he said.