[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 238 (Tuesday, December 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74565-74566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-21130]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

United States Copyright Office


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

AGENCY: United States Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Notice Announcing Public Forum.

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SUMMARY: The United States Copyright Office (USCO) and the United 
States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 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 Wednesday, January 3, 2007 
beginning at 1 p.m. and ending at 3 p.m. Requests to participate in the 
roundtable should be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on December 29, 
2006.

ADDRESSES: The roundtable will be held in the Atrium Conference Room at 
the USPTO, 600 Dulany Street, Madison West, 10th floor, Alexandria, VA 
22313.
    Persons wishing to participate in the roundtable are required to 
submit requests to participate, preferably by electronic mail through 
the Internet to [email protected]. Alternatively, you may submit requests 
by facsimile at 202-707-8366 or via regular mail to: U.S. Copyright 
Office, Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station,Washington, 
DC 20024, marked to the attention of Simone King. Please be aware that 
delivery of mail (U.S. Postal Service and private carrier) sent to the 
U.S. Copyright Office is subject to delay. Therefore, it is strongly 
suggested that any request to participate be made via e-mail or fax.
    Requests for participation as a member of the roundtable must 
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 5:00 p.m. on December 29, 2006. Due to space limitations, 
attendance is limited to the first 40 respondents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Simone King by telephone at 202-707-
5516, by facsimile at 202-707-8366, by electronic mail at 
[email protected], or by mail addressed to the U.S. Copyright Office, 
Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, DC 
20024, marked to the attention of Simone King.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background:

    For the past eight years and since the first meeting of the 
Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) 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 2006 WIPO General Assembly, the decision was taken 
to convene two special sessions of the SCCR to clarify the outstanding 
issues, the first one in January 2007, and the second one in June 2007, 
to be held in conjunction with the meeting of the preparatory 
committee. It is understood that the special sessions of the SCCR 
should aim to agree and finalize, on a signal-based approach, the 
objectives, specific scope and object of protection with a view to 
submitting to the Diplomatic Conference a revised basic proposal, which 
will amend the agreed relevant parts of the Revised Draft Basic 
Proposal (Document SCCR/15/2). The

[[Page 74566]]

Diplomatic Conference will be convened in November 2007 if such 
agreement is achieved. If no such agreement is achieved, all further 
discussions will be based on Document SCCR/15/2. The first special 
session of the SCCR will be held from January 17 to 19, 2007.
    WIPO posts various documents from their meetings, such as reports, 
member state submissions, meeting agendas, and texts prepared by the 
Chair of the SCCR. The most recent text available from July 31, 2006 -- 
the Revised Draft Basic Proposal (Document SCCR/15/2) -- can be found 
at www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=64712. WIPO has 
not yet made available a draft report from the 2006 General Assemblies, 
but preparatory documents for the Assemblies are available at 
www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=11023.
    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 and formal 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 Revised Draft Basic Proposal 
(Document SCCR/15/2).

    Dated: December 7, 2006
David O. Carson,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. E6-21130 Filed 12-11-06; 8:45 am]
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