Federal Register: August 17, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 159)
DOCID: FR Doc E6-13680
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Docket ID: [Docket No. PTO-C-2006-0044]
NOTICE: NOTICES
ACTION: Meetings:
DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice announcing public forum.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Notice of Roundtable on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaty on the Protection of the Rights of Broadcasting Organizations
DATES: The roundtable will be held on Tuesday, September 5, 2006, beginning at 1 p.m. and ending at 3 p.m.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and United States Copyright Office (USCO) announce a public roundtable discussion concerning the work at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) on a proposed Treaty On the Protection of the Rights of Broadcasting Organizations. Members of the public are invited to attend the roundtable, or to participate in the roundtable discussion, on the topics outlined in the supplementary information section of this notice.
SUMMARY:
World Intellectual Property Organization; treaty on protection of rights of broadcasting organizations; roundtable discussion,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Background
For the past eight years and since the first meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in November 1998, WIPO has been addressing the topic of updating the protection of the rights of broadcasting organizations. Although broadcasters rights are protected under some existing international agreements, such as under the 1961 Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations and the World Trade Organization's Agreement on TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, there has been increasing concern that changes in technology and the opening up of much of the world to commercial broadcasting, have made the protection provided in those agreements ineffective to protect broadcast signals against piracy.
At the September 2005 WIPO General Assembly, the decision was taken to hold additional meetings of the SCCR to permit further discussion of the possible treaty and to invite the 2006 WIPO General Assembly to convene a Diplomatic Conference in December 2006 or at an appropriate time in 2007.
WIPO posts various documents from their meetings, such as reports,
member state submissions, meeting agendas, and [official] texts
prepared by the Chair of the SCCR. The most recent text available from
July 31, 2006``Revised Draft Basic Proposal for The WIPO Treaty on
the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations'' can be found at http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=64712. On August 1,
2006, the United States made a submission to WIPO addressing the issue
of ``netcasting'' which is available at http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/ and will shortly be available on the WIPO Web site.
Throughout this process in WIPO, many points of view have been represented, including those of developed and developing countries, and many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and numerous industry, creator and content owner groups. The USPTO and USCO have participated in several informal meetings with interested parties such as broadcasters, netcasters, telecom companies, Internet service providers, content industries, creators and other NGOs, in order to obtain views and information relevant to the deliberations in the SCCR on this proposed treaty.
In order to allow further opportunity for interested parties to
comment, USPTO and USCO are convening this roundtable to provide
another forum for such parties to provide their views of and additional
information related to the proposed treaty. In particular, the
participants should be prepared to identify and discuss more fully the
issues and problems associated with the recent text available from July
31, 2006, the ``Revised Draft Basic Proposal for The WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations.''
Dated: August 15, 2006.
Stephen M. Pinkos,
Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. E613680 Filed 81606; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 351016P
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Jill Taylor by telephone at 571-272-
8083, by facsimile at 5712730085, by electronic mail at
Jill.Taylor@USPTO.gov, or by mail addressed to the USPTO, 600 Dulany
Street, Madison West, 10th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22313, marked to the
attention of Jill Taylor.