Following the progress of the SCCR committee on the Broadcasting Treaty in May this year, the General Assemblies directed the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) to make its best efforts to achieve consensus on the remaining outstanding issues during its next two meetings, and, if consensus is reached, to propose a recommendation to the 2019 WIPO General Assemblies with a date and venue for a Diplomatic Conference to adopt a Broadcasting Treaty text.
The Broadcasting Treaty has been under discussion for 20 years. Should a Diplomatic Conference be successful then a gap would be left on the SCCR agenda with many countries and pressure groups putting forward suggested agenda topics. One coalition of civil society organisations has unilateraly suggested a Treaty on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Educational and Research Activities.
The General Assemblies were also the occasion for a number of countries to sign up to WIPO treaties. These included Azerbaijan, the European Union, Japan and the United States joining the Marrakesh Treaty and India joining the WIPO Internet Treaties.
You can read the reaction of the Association of American Publishers to the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty here.
The next session of the SCCR will be held in Geneva from 26-30 November. IPA will be publishing a daily blog post as we have during previous sessions. You can read our old posts here.