WIPO Broadcast Treaty Could Wreck Freedom of Speech

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WIPO Broadcast Treaty Could Wreck Freedom of Speech

Broadcast entities are eagerly pushing an obscure treaty known as the World Intellectual Property Broadcast Treaty, which would give first broadcasters control over everything they broadcast for fifty years after the date of first broadcast.

It would end "fair use" that enables other broadcasters to use small parts of tapes and other broadcast information, for example, in news reports. It would also mean that the creators of broadcast material, such as freelance journalists, would no longer be able to negotiate contracts for their work, and would be forced to sell it for 50 years or nothing.

To understand just how abusive this treaty is, if you were to upload a video that you had made at your own expense onto YouTube, YouTube would then gain all rights to it for the next fifty years, without having to compensate you in any way.

via ...

Broadcast Treaty has potential to grant unwarranted "protections" 2/22/2006 3:47:32 PM, by Peter Pollack

The subject of an ongoing series of discussions between the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), broadcasters, and representatives from a variety of nations, the WIPO Broadcast Treaty carries the promise of standardizing how certain types of intellectual property are treated around the world. It also presents the ominous threat of granting a powerful 50-year right of control to anyone who first broadcasts audio or video content.

A video featuring comments on the WIPO treaty by US Copyright Office head Marybeth Peters has recently surfaced. In it, she sheds some light on the fact that, although US broadcasters would love to see the additional control granted to them, at least some people in the government are not necessarily in agreement on the issue, and the topic is not yet decided. Because the WIPO Broadcast Treaty is not yet a hot-button issue, many people may not have heard much about it and a bit of background is in order.

For the purposes of our discussion, it should be noted that broadcasters are separate from content creators. Broadcasters are working to protect you (in theory) and themselves (most certainly) from evildoers who would steal a legitimate broadcast signal. They plan to institute this protection by gaining specific legal rights for themselves at the expense of the content creator and the fair use. If you've ever posted any kind of sound and video on the Internet, you could be affected by this provision of the Broadcast Treaty, should it be adopted.

First, let's try to envision an environment in which a person creates a work of audio and video. That person would then be considered the copyright holder. If that person licenses their work to a broadcaster, a contract would be created that enumerates exactly what the broadcaster is allowed to do, and for how long it can be done, e.g., the broadcaster has exclusive rights to broadcast the work for five years, etc. After the term of the contract, the copyright holder gets those rights back.

If that idea makes sense to you, take a look around, because that's essentially the situation we have in the United States right now. There are exceptions and nuances to copyright law that have been omitted for the sake of clarity, but the overall concept remains true.

In other parts of the world, the situation is somewhat different:

... nearly 50 years ago broadcasters in some countries got an additional right, layered on top of the copyright. Even if the material being broadcast was in the public domain, or the copyright holder had no objection to redistribution, the broadcaster was given a legal right to prevent it - a 20-year period of exclusivity. The ostensible reason was to encourage broadcasters to invest in new networks.

Read entire article here:

SMiles

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