[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 159 (Thursday, August 17, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 47489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-13680]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No. PTO-C-2006-0044]


Notice of Roundtable on the World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO) Treaty on the Protection of the Rights of 
Broadcasting Organizations

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice announcing public forum.

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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.

DATES: The roundtable will be held on Tuesday, September 5, 2006, 
beginning at 1 p.m. and ending at 3 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The roundtable will be held in the Atrium Conference Room at 
the USPTO, 600 Dulany Street, Madison West, 10th Floor, Alexandria, VA 
22313. Requests for participation as a member of the roundtable are 
required and should be directed to the USPTO, 600 Dulany Street, 
Madison West, 10th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22313, marked to the attention 
of Jill Taylor. You may also submit requests by facsimile at 571-273-
0085 or by electronic mail through the Internet to 
[email protected]. Requests for participation as a member of the 
roundtable should indicate the following information:
    1. The name of the person desiring to participate;
    2. The organization or organizations represented by that person, if 
any;
    3. Contact information (address, telephone, and e-mail);
    4. Information on the specific focus or interest of the participant 
(or his or her organization) and any questions or issues the 
participant would like to raise.
    The deadline for receipt of requests to participate in the 
roundtable is 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 31, 2006. Attendance is 
limited to the first 40 respondents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jill Taylor by telephone at 571-272-
8083, by facsimile at 571-273-0085, by electronic mail at 
[email protected], or by mail addressed to the USPTO, 600 Dulany 
Street, Madison West, 10th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22313, marked to the 
attention of Jill Taylor.

SUPPLEMENTARY 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 Trade-Related 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 non-governmental 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. E6-13680 Filed 8-16-06; 8:45 am]
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