Phl seeks to finalize broadcasting treaty at WIPO

The Philippines renewed its push at the World Intellectual Property Organization to convene a diplomatic conference to finalize the long-delayed Broadcasting Organizations Treaty, warning that further inaction risks leaving broadcasters exposed to cross-border signal piracy.

- 

Speaking on the sidelines of the 47th session of WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in Geneva recently, Philippine Mission Consul General Felipe “Bong” Cariño III delivered the country’s position, developed with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.

The Philippines said negotiations that began in Manila in 1997 have dragged on for nearly three decades, even as piracy has grown more complex in the digital era. It argued that existing protections under the 1961 Rome Convention no longer reflect current technology, while the latest treaty draft already includes safeguards for the public domain, flexibilities for developing economies and builtin limitations and exceptions.

“The world is watching whether WIPO can still deliver balanced agreements,” Cariño said. “Twenty-eight years is long enough. Let us finish what Manila started.”