17 August 2006
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[Federal Register: August 17, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 159)]
[Notices]
[Page 47489]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17au06-31]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No. PTO-C-2006-0044]
Notice of Roundtable on the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) Treaty on the Protection of the Rights of
Broadcasting Organizations
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice announcing public forum.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and
United States Copyright Office (USCO) 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 Tuesday, September 5, 2006,
beginning at 1 p.m. and ending at 3 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The roundtable will be held in the Atrium Conference Room at
the USPTO, 600 Dulany Street, Madison West, 10th Floor, Alexandria, VA
22313. Requests for participation as a member of the roundtable are
required and should be directed to the USPTO, 600 Dulany Street,
Madison West, 10th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22313, marked to the attention
of Jill Taylor. You may also submit requests by facsimile at 571-273-
0085 or by electronic mail through the Internet to
Jill.Taylor@USPTO.gov. Requests for participation as a member of the
roundtable should 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 p.m. on Thursday, August 31, 2006. Attendance is
limited to the first 40 respondents.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jill Taylor by telephone at 571-272-
8083, by facsimile at 571-273-0085, by electronic mail at
Jill.Taylor@USPTO.gov, or by mail addressed to the USPTO, 600 Dulany
Street, Madison West, 10th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22313, marked to the
attention of Jill Taylor.
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 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 2005 WIPO General Assembly, the decision was taken
to hold additional meetings of the SCCR to permit further discussion of
the possible treaty and to invite the 2006 WIPO General Assembly to
convene a Diplomatic Conference in December 2006 or at an appropriate
time in 2007.
WIPO posts various documents from their meetings, such as reports,
member state submissions, meeting agendas, and [official] texts
prepared by the Chair of the SCCR. The most recent text available from
July 31, 2006--``Revised Draft Basic Proposal for The WIPO Treaty on
the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations'' can be found at http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=64712.
On August 1,
2006, the United States made a submission to WIPO addressing the issue
of ``netcasting'' which is available at http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/
and will shortly be available on the WIPO Web site.
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 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 recent text available from July
31, 2006, the ``Revised Draft Basic Proposal for The WIPO Treaty on the
Protection of Broadcasting Organizations.''
Dated: August 15, 2006.
Stephen M. Pinkos,
Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. E6-13680 Filed 8-16-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P