USTelecom Continues Advocacy on Broadcast Treaty November 14th, 2008
Kevin Rupy

Since early 2006, USTelecom has been involved in ongoing discussions at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland regarding the so-called Broadcast Treaty.  Through its Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), WIPO has been considering this controversial treaty for more than 10 years.  USTelecom — an accredited Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) at WIPO — has attended several meetings of the SCCR where the merits of the Broadcast Treaty have been debated.

USTelecom recently joined several other companies, associations and public interest groups to express its opposition to any treaty proposal that would create a new layer of exclusive intellectual property rights tied to broadcast signals.  The letter was presented at a November meeting of the SCCR, where the Broadcast Treaty was listed as an agenda item.  USTelecom and others believe that to the extent the SCCR finds it necessary to draft a treaty, such a treaty should be limited to signal protection.

Intellectual property issues remain an increasingly important area of the law for today’s broadband companies.  USTelecom will continue to remain vigilant in this area

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 9:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.