WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty | Practical Law

WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty | Practical Law

WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty

WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty

Practical Law Glossary Item 5-502-8893 (Approx. 3 pages)

Glossary

WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty

A treaty adopted in 1996 by member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that provides additional protections for phonograms (sound recordings) and the rights of certain performing artists to account for digital developments. For purposes of the treaty, sound recordings do not include the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual works.
Among other things, subject to certain limitations and exceptions, the treaty provides the following exclusive rights to producers and performers concerning their performances fixed in a sound recording:
  • Direct and indirect reproduction.
  • General distribution.
  • Rental.
  • The right to make available to the public by wire or wireless means (online transmission).
The treaty also provides performers with certain:
  • Economic rights in their live aural performances.
  • Moral rights.
Each signatory must:
  • Treat the nationals of other signatories the same way it treats its own nationals concerning rights granted in the treaty.
  • Ensure that the granted rights are not subject to any formalities and the term of protection be at least 50 years.
  • Protect against the:
    • circumvention of technological measures used by performers and producers to exercise their rights under the treaty; and
    • unauthorized modification of electronic rights management information.
  • Adopt measures to ensure that the treaty is applied and that enforcement procedures and remedies are available for acts infringing any rights granted in the treaty.
The treaty was implemented in the US through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Additional information, including the full text of the treaty, is available on the WIPO website.