E sccr/21/2 Original: English date: August , 2010 Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights Twenty First Session Geneva, November to 12, 2010

Right of Fixation

208 Broadcasting organizations have the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the fixation of their broadcasts under the Rome Convention. The TRIPS Agreement grants broadcasting organizations an optional right to prohibit the fixation of their broadcasts undertaken without their authorization.

209 The rapid development of broadcasting media technology, with its succession of new systems of fixation, has been seen by some to justify the need for a fixation right to close loopholes in the protection provided, as for example in the case of reproduction and distribution of copies of fixations of broadcasts.⁷² Conceptually, the right of fixation is seen as the basis for the exploitation of post-fixation rights, including reproduction, distribution and rental of fixations (with their various limitations and exemptions). Proponents believe that if broadcasting and cablecasting organizations are not provided with fixation rights, the justification for post fixation rights becomes questionable for lack of basis.

Post-Fixation Rights

210 Despite the inseparability of the signal from its underlying content, a broadcaster’s exclusive right to authorize the reproduction and distribution of fixations does not extend to the right to authorize the reproduction and distribution of the content of the broadcast—a right that is vested in the content owner. In other words, a potential user of copyrighted content may either (1) obtain a copy of the content (that he or she viewed on television) directly from the content owner or (2) use a copy of the recorded broadcasts/cablecasts. In the latter case, the user would need to secure the rights not only from the broadcasters/cablecasters for the use of the transmitted signal, but also from the content owner for the use of the content carried by the signals. The user is generally allowed fixation for personal use, such as in recording a television show for later viewing under alternative provisions in Article 17 of the proposed treaty.

211 The TRIPS Agreement provides broadcasting organizations the option of an unqualified intellectual property-type right to prohibit reproduction of fixations of their broadcasts, but this right is not mandatory in the TRIPS Agreement. The right of reproduction of broadcasts is also protected under the Rome Convention. The right applies to reproduction of fixations made without the consent of the broadcasting organizations that do not fall into the recognized exceptions and limitations allowed under the Convention. Again, reproductions (of signal and content) are generally seen as authorized if the purpose is purely for personal, scientific, or educational use.⁷³

212 However, no protection is granted against the distribution of unauthorized reproductions or copies of such fixations. Neither the Rome Convention nor the TRIPS Agreement includes a distribution right for broadcasting organizations. Reserving the rights of fixation and reproduction can be powerfully complemented by a reservation of the right to distribute, argue proponents of that right. They argue that the rights of fixation and reproduction will not halt unauthorized distribution of broadcasts because the unauthorized distributors can always claim that someone else made the unauthorized copies.

213 The WIPO Internet treaties (WCT and WPPT) introduced the making available right. The making available right in the proposed treaty is provided as an exclusive right of authorizing the making available to the public of broadcasts/cablecasts from fixations, by wire or wireless means, in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and a time individually chosen by them. The right could include on-demand transmission of the fixations of broadcasts.

214 On-demand delivery ’is a medium that spreads the broadcasters’ or cablecasters’ footprints wider. It is a more recent kind of exploitation that enables the public to choose individually the time and the place from which they access the protected materials. For the same reason that corresponding rights have been granted to authors, performers, and phonogram producers under international law, broadcasting and cablecasting organizations should also be able to exercise the making-available right, its proponents argue.

Protection in Relation to Signals Prior to Broadcast or Cablecast

215 Effective protection from unauthorized use of broadcasts requires the extension of protection over the entire chain of delivery of broadcasts. It is considered that pre-broadcast signals should come within the scope of the treaty because there is a risk that such signals may be accessed without authorization before they reach the stage of broadcast.

216 The Brussels Convention is the only international treaty that covers pre-broadcast signals. However, the type of protection is not a proprietary right, but rather an obligation for contracting states to take adequate measures to prevent the unauthorized distribution of the pre-broadcast signal by any distributor for whom the signal emitted to or passing through the satellite is not intended.

217 Proponents of the proposed treaty further believe that broadcasting organizations should be equipped with tools to prevent others from distributing program-carrying signals transmitted by satellite which were not intended for reception by the public. These are signals that are sent via a telecommunications link, either to the broadcasters for use in their own broadcasts or by the broadcasters to one or more other broadcasting organizations for use in those organizations’ broadcasts.

218 The process of getting the signal from the studio to the transmitter is not a service provided to the public, but is a process that facilitates the carriage of the signal to a transmitter to enable it to be broadcast to the public. On its own, it therefore, arguably, might not come within the definition of broadcasting or cablecasting service, but it is an essential component of that service. The appropriation of a pre-broadcast or cablecast signal may present an attractive proposition to third parties who could bundle the signal (with its content) into their own services without permission from the originating organization.