The treaty was drafted by the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) and it updates an international copyright
treaty originally adopted in 1886 and revised in 1971. The state of
Gabon last week became the 30th state to accede to the Treaty,
paving the way for its entry into force.
The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) is also
expected to enter into force in the near future when 30 countries
have become party to it (there are 28 to date).
"This is an important day in the history of copyright, making it
better equipped to meet the technological challenges of cyberspace"
said WIPO’s Director General Dr. Kamil Idris last week.
The Director General emphasised the importance of the new norms
provided for in the WCT and the WPPT which, he said, are vital for
the further development of the internet, e-commerce and the culture
and information industries. He stressed that for the treaties to be
truly effective, they must become widely adopted by countries in
all regions of the world. He said:
"While we have reached the key number of 30
countries required for entry into force, I urge all other countries
to follow suit and to incorporate the provisions of the WCT and
WPPT into their national legislation. This will create the
conditions necessary for the broad-based and legitimate
distribution of creative works and recordings on the internet."
Controversially, the Treaty contains some provisions similar to
the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998, currently
the subject of US actions over software code which can be used to
disable the copyright protection used in DVDs. The Treaty requires
countries to provide adequate legal protection and effective
remedies against the circumvention of technological measures, such
as encryption. This is similar to a provision of the EU's Copyright
Directive.
Background
Copyright law provides protection for literary and artistic
works, giving authors the ability to control the exploitation of
their works. The law of related rights provides similar protection
for the creative contributions of those involved in presenting
works to the public, such as performers, phonogram producers and
broadcasters.
These rights are provided by national laws in individual
countries. International treaties serve to forge links among
different national laws, ensuring that creators are also protected
in another country than their own. The treaties do not overrule
national law, but require the countries that join them to grant
some specified minimum rights, and to do so on a non-discriminatory
basis.
Adopted in 1996, the WCT and WPPT update and improve the
international protection which was established prior to the
development and widespread use of personal computers and the
internet. The WCT protects literary and artistic works, a broad
category that includes books, computer programs, music, art, and
movies. It updates and supplements the Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the major international
copyright treaty in the world today which was originally adopted in
1886, and most recently revised in 1971.
The WPPT will similarly safeguard the interests of producers of
phonograms or sound recordings as well as of the performers whose
performances are fixed in phonograms. It updates and supplements
the major related rights treaty, the Rome Convention for the
Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting
Organisations (adopted in 1961). In this way, the WCT and WPPT
provide responses to the challenges of the new digital
technologies. It is for this reason that they have come to be known
as the "internet treaties."
Both treaties require countries to provide a basic framework of
rights, allowing creators to control and/or be compensated for the
various ways in which their creations are used and enjoyed by
others. The treaties ensure that right-holders will continue to be
adequately and effectively protected when their works are
disseminated over the internet.
They do so, first, by clarifying that the traditional right of
reproduction continues to apply in the digital environment,
including to storage of material in digital form in an electronic
medium; and by confirming the right-holders' right to control the
making available of their creations on demand to individual members
of the public. The treaties also make clear that countries have
flexibility in establishing exceptions or limitations to rights in
the digital environment, and may either extend existing exceptions
and limitations or adopt new ones, "as appropriate in the
circumstances".
The treaties also aim to safeguard the reliability and integrity
of the on-line marketplace, by requiring countries to prohibit the
deliberate alteration or deletion of electronic "rights management
information": that is, information that identifies a work, its
author, performer or owner, and the terms and conditions for its
use.
Both treaties also contain provisions on rights of distribution
and rental, rights to be remunerated for certain forms of
broadcasting or communication to the public, and an obligation for
countries to provide adequate and effective enforcement
measures.
