Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2023

Abstract

The agenda of the 43rd meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights includes a Second Revised Draft Text for the WIPO Broadcasting Organizations Treaty. This PIJIP Working Paper displays the changes between the first and second revised drafts and adds short commentary on some of the major drafting issues. The comments include repeated references to the working paper Prof. P. Bernt Hugenholtz, Groundhog Day in Geneva: The WIPO Broadcasting Treaty is on the Agenda Once Again. American University International Law Review Symposium on the Right to Research in International Copyright Law, v.2 March 1, 2023.

In summary, the Second Revision contains many important amendments, including a substantially revised article on limitations and exceptions. The Treaty would allow (but not require) the grant of exclusive intellectual property rights to the “signals” transmitted entirely over the Internet – a result not provided for under the Rome Convention or Brussels Convention. The limitations and exceptions, although improved, continue to permit exclusive rights over a broadcast signal to thwart uses that permitted by copyright law. The lack of any mandatory exceptions means that broadcast rights could prevent uses such as quotation and providing access for people with disabilities required to be permitted by international copyright law.

Share

COinS