TACD oral statement to WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights
Before commenting the Broadcast Treaty I would like to congratulate the European Union and India for their signature tomorrow of the Marrakesh Treaty for visually impaired persons and their commitment to swift ratification of this Treaty.
The Broadcast Treaty has become a UFO, an unidentified flying object that has been buzzing around this room for years. No one can define it, there are many far-fetched theories, no one knows what planet it has come from, no one can understand which language, signal or frequency they speak, and, more importantly, to some people this UFO exists but for others it is a creation of our imagination.
1. TACD opposes the grant of any new layer of intellectual property rights for broadcasters that would make it more expensive and complex to legally obtain, access and to use information.
2.The Treaty would create many problems for consumers specially if it is without very clear fixation rights limitations.
3. Many of the people that TACD represents use information from broadcasts in blogs and in the creation of documentaries and commentary, and we therefore support robust exceptions to any new rights, to protect our access to works and their use, and we are against new rules that might create barriers to what is now legally allowed by copyright law in countries with flexible norms.
4. At some point, after people figure out what the broadcast treaty is supposed to do and it stops being a UFO, WIPO should carry out an impact study to show how it will impact consumers, performers and authors.
Then maybe we shall finally find out whether this Unidentified Flying Object called the Broadcast Treaty really exists or not. Thank you.