Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances

Further to the decision of the WIPO General Assembly in 2011 and the Preparatory Committee, the Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances, will take place in Beijing in June 2012 to adopt an international treaty on the rights of performers in their audiovisual performances. During this Conference, simultaneous interpretation will be provided from and into English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish and from Portuguese into the other six languages.

Further practical information, including dates, Conference venue and online registration, will be published on this page in due course.

Background

In 2000, discussions on a treaty that would shore up the rights of performers in their audiovisual performances made significant progress, with provisional agreement rights on 19 of the 20 articles under negotiation. Negotiators at the time did not agree on whether or how a treaty on performers’ rights should deal with the transfer of rights from the performer to the producer, and suspended the diplomatic conference.

Member states at the Standing Committee on copyright and Related Rights, meeting in June 2011 in Geneva, agreed compromise wording on the provision on the transfer of rights which made it sufficiently flexible to adapt to different national laws, thereby paving the way for the conclusion of a treaty.

The Diplomatic Conference will be reconvened in 2012 and will continue the work of the meeting in 2000.

The adoption of a new instrument would strengthen the precarious position of performers in the audiovisual industry by providing a clearer legal basis for the international use of audiovisual productions, both in traditional media and in digital networks. Such an instrument would also contribute to safeguarding the rights of performers against the unauthorized use of their performances in audiovisual media, such as television, film and video.

Singers, musicians, dancers and actors have enjoyed limited international protection for their performances since the adoption of the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (the Rome Convention) in 1961. In 1996, the adoption of WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) fully modernized and updated these standards in respect of sound performances, particularly in relation to digital uses, leaving a void in the international rights’ system for audiovisual performers.