PRESS RELEASE
19th June 2006
European Podcasters Team Up To Lobby WIPO
Podcasters across the world have come together to emphatically reject the re-drafted Broadcast Treaty. the Irish Podcasting Representive Body (PodRepBod) has been joined by the UK Podcasters Association and German Podcastverband to lobby WIPO in a pan-european effort to assert podcasters’ rights at the WIPO meeting in Barcalona Wednesday, June 21st, presenting a petition, the text of which follows:
To: World Intellectual Property organization (WIPO)
This is a petition to the World Intellectual Property organization (WIPO) regarding the Broadcast Treaty as it affects podcasting and podcasters.
This treaty as it stands gives broadcasters (not creators or copyright holders) the right to tie up the use of audiovisual material for 50 years after broadcasting it, even if the programs are in the public domain, Creative Commons licensed, or not copyrightable. We consider this to be an infringement of the right of the originator of a work to determine its form of licence, future usage and copyright status. Further, the extension of the Broadcast Treaty to include Podcasting does not take into account the many forms of the new medium of podcasting which do not correspond to broadcast models. We uphold our right to be different from broadcasting and therefore subject to legislation which takes these differences into account.
We, podcast creators, producers and supporters of the global podcasting community, earnestly request that WIPO respect, acknowledge and include the following in any revision of the Broadcast Treaty:
– Broadcaster copyright cannot overrule podcast copyright or other licence
– Podcasting is not broadcasting and the two must not be conflated (forced together)
– The wishes of the creator regarding their rights in their work must be respected
– Creative Commons licences, GPU licences, “free forever” licences (in whatever form) are legitimate and must be upheld in perpetuity.
http://www.petitiononline.com/ukpod001/petition.html
UKPA Chairman Dean Whitbread said: “UK Podcasters Association is pleased to team up with our European colleagues in Germany and Ireland in order to present a united front for these very important lobbying issues. WIPO must respect the rights of podcasters and not superimpose a out-dated model which will have a negative impact upon this fast-growing cultural industry.”
Brian Greene, head of the Irish Podcasters Representative Body, said, “Extending IPRs at the expense of the public domain is a developing trend that will be to the detriment of all media, be it corporate, state or citizen-developed.”
Thomas Wanhoff from the German Podcastverband said, “As radio and TV loses its audience, podcasters are finding their own means of making content in a very creative way. We just want to maintain our rights – and this is what we are fighting for.”
CONTACT: Brian Greene brian_AT_doop.ie +353(0)85 711 6466