New Proposal At WIPO SCCR To Explore Use Of Copyrighted Works In Digital Environment

Latin American and Caribbean countries have tabled a new proposal for next week’s meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on copyright. The proposal calls for analysing copyright related to the digital environment.

The proposal, tabled yesterday, is expected to be considered by WIPO members during the 31^st session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), taking place from 7-11 December.

The Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC) proposes to discuss the new challenges coming from the use of intellectual property-protected works in the digital environment.

According to an executive summary of the proposal: “As a result of technological innovations, both ‘traditional IP rights’ and the right of ‘making available to the public’, provided for in WCT [WIPO Copyright Treaty] and WPPT [WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty], are not perfectly adapted to legally frame the new works and uses of protected work in the digital environment.”

It is difficult, according to the summary, to identify limitations or exceptions to copyright in the digital environment, “which jeopardises fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression and access to culture, knowledge and information, and places the user in the position of potential violator.”

The summary also underlines new business models based on the use of copyrighted works on digital platforms, which lack transparency and provide low remuneration to authors and performers.

The proposal suggests three areas of work for the SCCR:

1. Analysis and discussion of legal frameworks used to protect works in digital services;
2. Analysis and discussion of the role of companies and corporations that make use of protected works in the digital environment and their way of action, including the verification of the level of transparency on business and the proportions of copyright and related rights payment to the multiple rights holders.
3. Building consensus on the management of copyright in the digital environment, in order to deal with the problems associated to this matter, from the low payment of authors and artists to the limitations and exceptions to copyrights in the digital environment.

 

Image Credits: Flickr – hJl