The United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization has called a last-minute meeting on June 21 in Barcelona, out of the normal diplomatic venues to try to ram through the Broadcasting Treaty. This treaty gives broadcasters (not creators or copyright holders) the right to tie up the use of audiovisual material for 50 years after broadcasting it, even if the programs are in the public domain, Creative Commons licensed, or not copyrightable.
The Barcelona meeting brings together lots of latinamerican broadcasters — who no doubt love the idea of a new monopoly right that they get for free merely for broadcasting a work. Bringing these casters in is a way of undermining the effective opposition to the treaty that's come from countries like Brazil and Chile.
No public interest groups are on the bill to give a counterpoint (of course not — WIPO is the kind of place where public interest groups' handouts are thrown in the toilets' trashcans).
This meeting is especially deadly, because it looks like they're trying to sneak podcasting back into the treaty, after agreeing to take it out at the last big meeting in Geneva.
The good news is, it's open to the public. If you're a digital rights activist in Barcelona — or just someone who cares about how big corporations are taking away your rights to use works freely — then you need to be at this meeting.
Webcasting will clearly be part of next week's discussions. That much is clear from the title of next week's event: "From the Rome Convention to Podcasting". One of the invited speakers is from Yahoo! Europe, one of the proponents of new rights for webcasters. This, despite the fact that webcasting and simulcasting were taken out of the "traditional" Broadcasting Treaty and put on the slow track last month in response to concerns expressed by the majority of WIPO member states.
The good news: unlike earlier meetings, this one is open to the public, with prior registration requested. So if you care about the proposed treaties and can get to the Barcelona meeting, this is your opportunity to stand up and be counted for the public interest.
If you’re in the U.S., please tell your Congressional representatives to hold hearings on the proposed treaties before it’s too late. And if you need a reminder about the harm that these treaties could wreak on access to knowledge and technological innovation, read Jamie Boyle’s piece in today’s Financial Times.
Update: Jamie Boyle has an excellent column that explains how this treaty (which the US is fighting for) would be unconstitutional in the USA.
