Research paper on WIPO Broadcasting Treaty

The talks about a broadcasting treaty at WIPO have collapsed for now. But I bet this wasn't the last time we've heard of it.

The South Centre has just published a research paper (.pdf, 350 kB), looking at the broadcasting treaty from the perspective of developing countries. Here’s what it says in a nutshell:

The research paper concludes that there is a lack of evidence indicating that the array of additional rights and protection for broadcasting and cablecasting organizations, as incorporated in the text of a Revised Draft Basic Proposal for a WIPO Treaty on the Protection of  Broadcasting Organizations, are either necessary or desirable from a developing country perspective. On the other hand, evidence suggests that the proposed treaty in its current form would create more costs thanbenefits in the short- and long-term for developing countries and is not conducive to social and economic development.

You might think that it’s tough luck for the authors, Viviana Munoz of the South Centre's Innovation and Access to Knowledge (IAKP) Programme and Andrew Chegue Waitara, a researcher at the Plato Institute in Nairobi: Now that the paper is out, the talks have collapsed.

But I wouldn’t be so sure. Firstly, the South Centre’s research papers are usually very insightful and substantial, so I suppose this one will go on to influence a lot of discussions.

And secondly, the phrase is floating around that the Broadcast Treaty now is “a problem waiting for a place to happen”. The treaty’s backers will take their worries to other fora, or try to strike bilateral deals. If keeping bad regulation out of one treaty is bad, try keeping it out of some fifty to hundred bilateral agreements.

My advice is to grab the paper now, give it a read, and save it for another day, when the Broadcast Zombie will start roaming the lands again.