[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 70 (Thursday, April 12, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18493-18494]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-6964]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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 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 
and observe 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, May 9, 2007, beginning 
at 2 p.m. and ending at 4 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The roundtable will be held in the Mumford Room at the James 
Madison Memorial Building, 6th Floor, Library of Congress, 101 
Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC.
    Persons wishing to attend and observe or participate in the 
roundtable are required to submit requests to observe the roundtable or 
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 observe or participate be made via e-mail or fax. 
Requests to observe the roundtable or to participate as a member of the 
roundtable must indicate the following information:

    1. The name of the person, including whether it is your intention 
to observe the roundtable or to participate as a member of the 
roundtable;

    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 observer or 
participant (or his or her organization) and any questions or issues 
you would like to raise.

    The deadline for receipt of requests to observe or participate in 
the roundtable is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 4, 2007. If we receive so 
many requests that we reach the room's capacity, attendance will be 
granted in the order the requests were received.

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 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 (however, the United States 
is not a party to that treaty) 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

[[Page 18494]]

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. 
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 toward 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 Diplomatic 
Conference will be convened in November 2007 if such agreement is 
achieved.
    WIPO posts various documents from its meetings, such as reports, 
Member State submissions, meeting agendas, and texts prepared by the 
Chair of the SCCR. On March 9, 2007, in accordance with the decisions 
of the First Special Session of the SCCR which took place from January 
17 to 19, 2007, WIPO requested comments from Member States on a Draft 
Non-paper on the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting 
Organizations, prepared by the Chair of the First Special Session, with 
the assistance of the WIPO Secretariat (Document SCCR/S1/WWW/75352 can 
be found at http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/sccr/en/sccr_s1/sccr_s1_www_75352.doc). Member State submissions commenting on the Draft Non-
paper on the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting 
Organizations, including comments of the United States Government, are 
available at http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/sccr_s1/. A revised Non-
paper, taking into account Member State comments on the Draft Non-
paper, is expected to be made available to Member States on May 1, 
2007.
    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 U.S. Copyright Office and USPTO 
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, the U.S. Copyright Office and USPTO are convening this 
roundtable -- the third held on this issue --to provide another forum 
for such parties to provide their views on and additional information 
related to the proposed treaty. In particular, the participants should 
be prepared to identify and discuss more fully any issues and concerns 
associated with the revised Non-paper to be released by WIPO on May 1, 
2007.

    Dated: April 9, 2007.
David O. Carson,
Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs U.S. Copyright 
Office.
[FR Doc. E7-6964 Filed 4-11-07; 8:45 am]
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