Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10GENEVA42
2010-01-21 10:52:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Mission Geneva
Cable title:  

WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights: USG

Tags:  ECON KIPR WIPO 
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DE RUEHGV #0042/01 0211053
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211052Z JAN 10
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0017
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA
RUEHGV/USMISSION USTR GENEVA
UNCLAS GENEVA 000042 

SIPDIS
STATE FOR EEB/IPC, IO/HS, OES
COMMERCE FOR USPTO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON KIPR WIPO
SUBJECT: WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights: USG
Takes Lead on Access for People with Print Disabilities

UNCLAS GENEVA 000042

SIPDIS
STATE FOR EEB/IPC, IO/HS, OES
COMMERCE FOR USPTO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON KIPR WIPO
SUBJECT: WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights: USG
Takes Lead on Access for People with Print Disabilities


1. (U) Summary: The World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)
met in Geneva December 14-18, 2009. At this 19th session of the
SCCR, the United States unequivocally called on the international
copyright community to reach a consensus on copyright exceptions
for persons with print disabilities. Such an instrument could take
the form of a model law, WIPO Joint Recommendation, or multilateral
treaty. In a significant shift from its past position, the EU
supported the U.S. call for the initiation of focused consultations
aimed at producing a Joint Recommendation. The SCCR also discussed
other copyright exceptions and limitations, along with possible
treaties to protect audiovisual performances and broadcasting
organizations. The U.S delegation was led by Senior Advisor to the
Undersecretary Justin Hughes, USPTO, and included Jean Bonilla
(State),Michael Shapiro (USPTO),Nancy Weiss (IMLS),and Michelle
Woods (U.S. Copyright Office).



Exceptions: General

--------------




2. (U) With the strong support of the delegations of Chile,
Brazil, Egypt, and other developing countries, the SCCR has been
considering over the last several sessions a broad range of
exceptions and limitations to the exclusive rights of authors. To
facilitate the Committee's discussions in this area, the SCCR has
commissioned a number of studies, including studies of exceptions
and limitations in national copyright laws for blind, visually
impaired persons, libraries and archives, and education. To
advance this aspect of its work, the Committee approved the second
draft of a questionnaire on exceptions and limitations under
national copyright laws. At the 19th SCCR, the chairman invited
delegations to submit comments on or changes to the questionnaire
to the Secretariat by January 8, 2010. Based on the responses to
the questionnaire, the Secretariat will prepare a consolidated
paper on national copyright exceptions and limitations in advance
of the 20th session of the SCCR, scheduled for June 21-25, 2010.
The United States generally supports efforts to share national
experiences to deepen the Committee's understanding of national
exceptions and limitations. USG interventions at the meetings

focused on reorganizing the questionnaire document to improve
clarity and the introduction of an option to check "none of the
above" in answer to some questions.



Exceptions for Print Disabled Persons

--------------




3. (U) In recent SCCR meetings, attention has focused on the issue
of enhancing the access persons of persons with print disabilities
to copyrighted works. At the 18th session of the SCCR (May 25-29
2009),the delegations of Brazil, Ecuador, and Paraguay tabled a
treaty proposal for the benefit of print disabled persons based on
a text prepared by the World Blind Union (WBU). The United States
came to the 19th session of the SCCR prepared to discuss a range of
options, including but not limited to the WBU proposal, aimed at
enhancing the accessibility of print disabled persons to
copyrighted works. In preparation for the 19th session of the
SCCR, the U.S. delegation, with leadership from the White House,
engaged in extensive consultations with constituencies with a
strong interest in this issue. Building on an earlier public
comment process and public roundtable (March-May 2009),preparation
for this session of the SCCR also included the completion of a
second round of public comments (October-December 2009),which
included specific questions on the WBU treaty proposal and an
informal White House meeting with representatives of organizations
of the blind and visually-impaired, libraries, and copyright
industries.




4. (U) On December 15, Special Advisor Hughes delivered the U.S.
intervention on copyright exceptions and limitations for persons
with print disabilities. Hughes stressed that the United States is
unequivocally committed to reaching an international consensus on
copyright exceptions for persons with print disabilities, but
remains open to discussing and exploring a number of vehicles for


achieving such a consensus, including a model law, a WIPO Joint
Recommendation, or a multilateral treaty. Of these options, Hughes
said that, in the view of the United States, the most productive
course of action may be to initiate "a work program that begins
with a series of serious, focused consultations aimed at producing
a carefully-crafted Joint Recommendation of the Berne Assembly and
the WIPO General Assembly." The full statement is available on the
USPTO website at:



http://www.uspto.gov/ip/global/copyrights/wip o_sccr_19session.pdf



and on the Copyright Office website at:



http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sccr/statement/ us-intervention12-15-0
9.pdf



In addition to distributing written copies of the intervention, the
U.S. delegation made available to the NGO representatives present
at the meeting a CD version of the document, in a blind-accessible
format, for immediate posting to their websites.




5. (U) The U.S. intervention was very well-received both by
foreign government delegations and NGOs. The significant change in
position of the EU during the course of the meeting is particularly
noteworthy. In its first topical intervention on Tuesday, the EU
merely restated its general support for the goal of improving
access for the blind/visually impaired, noting, for example, a few,
pertinent recent developments at the European level. However,
later in the week, after EU Member States consulted with their
capitals, the EU announced what it characterized as a major change
in its position. In particular, following the U.S. lead, the EU
called for focused consultations aimed at producing such a Joint
Recommendation, although it stopped short of mentioning the WBU
treaty proposal.




6. (U) After extensive negotiations, the U.S. delegation
successfully inserted a sentence in the Chairman's summary
conclusion of the meeting that stated that the members of the SCCR
"accepted the initiation of focused, open-ended consultations in
Geneva aimed at producing an international consensus regarding
copyright exceptions and limitations for persons with print
disabilities." This language captured a key U.S. objective for the
meeting, i.e., to maintain forward momentum on the issue without
defining the nature of an implementation instrument.





Protection of Audiovisual Performances

--------------




7. (U) Since the failure of a 2000 WIPO Diplomatic Conference to
adopt a treaty to protect audiovisual performances (AV Treaty),the
issue has remained on the agenda of the SCCR. On the basis of
WIPO informal consultations in 2009 (including consultations with
U.S. motion picture studios and audiovisual performers' unions),
the environment for narrowing the differences on the principal
outstanding unresolved issue (the transfer of rights from the
performer to the studio) seemed to be slightly improved. Against
this background, at the 19th session of the SCCR, the U.S.
delegation reaffirmed the longstanding support of the United States
for the adoption of a treaty that would protect audiovisual
performers. However, the U.S. delegation also made clear that the
United States does not support any ambitious timetable for
reconvening a Diplomatic Conference that would not allow sufficient
time to complete its consultations with domestic stakeholders.



8. (U) In advance of the December meeting, the WIPO Secretariat
had circulated a draft recommendation calling for the convening of
an extraordinary session of the WIPO General Assembly from March
15-16, 2010 for the purpose of the purpose of convening an AV
Treaty Diplomatic Conference under a specific, limited mandate.
The draft recommendation failed to attract support within the SCCR.
Nonetheless, the SCCR expressed its interest in finding a less
ambitious way forward; in particular, the SCCR requested the
Secretariat to conduct "open-ended consultations" in Geneva on the
AV Treaty. The SCCR also noted that the nineteen articles, on which
provisional agreement was reached at the 2000 Diplomatic
Conference, provided a "good basis" for future negotiations on the
treaty. At the 20th session in June 2010, the SCCR will "consider
the next steps and evaluate if there is consensus on a possible
recommendation to the General Assembly of WIPO to convene a
diplomatic conference."





Protection for Broadcasting Organizations

--------------




9. (U) In its intervention on December 17, the U.S. delegation
restated the longstanding support of the United States for an
update of the 1961 Rome Convention, which provides protection for
broadcasting organizations (such as traditional radio and TV
stations). The U.S. delegation stressed that any modern treaty
should provide for protection of broadcast signals from piracy and
must extend protection on a platform-neutral basis, extending
protection for broadcasting, cablecasting, and webcasting
organizations alike. The U.S. delegation opposed any relaxation of
the 2006 WIPO General Assembly mandate that obligates SCCR members
to reach an agreement on the objectives, scope, and object of
protection in a signal-based approach before a Diplomatic
Conference can be convened to negotiate a treaty for the protection
of broadcasting organizations.




10. (U) There is strong support among the Europeans and the
Japanese to conclude a treaty for the benefit of broadcasting
organizations, but the SCCR remains deeply divided on fundamental
issues under the 2006 mandate. At the December session, the
committee reaffirmed its commitment to continue work on the
proposed treaty. However, in the Chairman's summary the Committee
could only agree to request the Secretariat to "organize regional
seminars upon requests from Member States to ascertain views on the
objectives, specific scope and object of protection of a possible
draft treaty following a signal-based approach."




11. (U) The meeting was chaired by Jukka Liedes of Finland's
Ministry of Education. The Chairman's summary is available on the
WIPO website at:


http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/ sccr_19/sccr_19_conclu
sions.pdf




12. (U) This report has been cleared by the Washington SCCR
delegation.
RICHTER