Compiled by: Sachi Kapoor | Concept & Edited by: Dr. Mohan Dewan

India is now party to the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performers and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). Both the treaties were concluded in 1996 and entered into force in 2002. Let us get a gist of both these treaties.

The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT): The WIPO Copyright Treaty is a special agreement under the Berne Convention that deals with the protection of works and the rights of their authors in the digital environment.

Rights Conferred through the treaty:

  • Computer programs in any mode or form of their expression
  • Compilations of data or other material ("databases"), in any form, which, by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents, constitute intellectual creations.

(NOTE: Where a database does not constitute such a creation, it is outside the scope of this Treaty.)

  • The right of distribution
  • The right of rental
  • A broader right of communication to the public.

WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT): This treaty deals with the rights of two kinds of beneficiaries, particularly in the digital environment:

(i) Performers (actors, singers, musicians, etc.);

(ii) Producers of phonograms (persons or legal entities that take the initiative and have the responsibility for the fixation of sounds). These rights are addressed in the same instrument, because most of the rights granted by the Treaty to performers are rights connected to their fixed, purely aural performances (making them subject matter of phonograms).

Now performers are classified in two classes

  • Fixed Performers (fixed in phonograms, not Motion pictures): Economic Rights such as, the right of reproduction, the right of distribution, the right of rental and the right of making available.
  • Unfixed Performers (live performers): the right of broadcasting (except in the case of rebroadcasting), the right of communication to the public (except where the performance is a broadcast performance) and the right of fixation.

The Treaty also grants performers moral rights,that is, the right to claim to be identified as the performer and the right to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification that would harm the performer's reputation. The Producers of phonograms share the same rights as that of fixed performers.

Limitations and Exceptions for WCT and WPPT: Article 10 of the WCT incorporates the "three-step" test to determine limitations and exceptions, as provided in Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention.

  • Three-step test: Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention states that:

It is the responsibility of the legislation in the countries party to the treaty to permit the reproduction of such works in certain special cases, provided that such reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.

The duration for protection for WCT and WPPT is at least a period of 50 years.

Thus, the protection of work in the digital environment and performers rights will now be enforceable with more efficiency and on par with the 96 countries party to the mentioned treaties.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.