Negotiators have made progress toward agreeing a new international treaty on broadcasting, helped by a US concession that webcasting need not necessarily be included, UN officials have said.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are seeking to update the 1961 Rome Convention on the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations, which has been under discussion at the United Nations’ body since 1997.
But many developing countries had been resisting pressure from the United States, and to a lesser extent the European Union, to include at least aspects of webcasting in any pact. “It was a big move to take it (webcasting) out,” said Rita Hayes, deputy WIPO director-general, who is overseeing the work on the new treaty.