Legal
The Crucial Importance of the Protection of Broadcaster’s Signal
By Yan Bo, Deputy Director, Copyright Management Dept. China Central Television; Chair of the Copyright Committee of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union
A
However, rampant piracy severely hinders the development of broadcasting industry in the long run. For example, during 2014 World Cup, the infringements of broadcaster’s signal via websites/APPs/OTTs were widespread, causing huge financial losses to the broadcasting industry. Another noteworthy case is HBO Criticizes Periscope Over ‘Game of Thrones’ Live Streams . This case warns broadcasters that, the ‘Apps’ over Internet, Mobile, OTT, iPad or any other new media platform, easily allow users to live broadcast the broadcaster’s signal to anywhere in the world. And legally there is no effective protection for broadcaster’s signal in this circumstance.
s Mr Zheng Chengsi – a prominent copyright expert in China – says, communication
technology accelerates the development of economy and culture, yet at the same time causes copyright problems which we never faced before. Today, with the development of new media technology, the protection of broadcaster’s signal is facing even more severe challenges which demand an urgent solution.
As we all know, ‘copyright’ is not only a legal term, but also means an entire industry. It is named ‘Copyright Industry’ in the U.S., ‘Creative Industry’ in the U.K., ‘Content Industry’ in Japan, and ‘Cultural Industry’ in China. Copyright industry is a part of the intellectual economy, where knowledge and creativity must be recognized and rewarded. According to WIPO’s classification, ‘broadcasting’ belongs to the core copyright industry. A WIPO study conducted in 2012 on the economic contribution of the copyright industries found that broadcasting is the third largest of the core copyright sectors, after press/literature and software. Broadcasting’s contribution to the economy is more than twice of the music sector, and more than three times of the film industry.
Without effective protection, infringements on new media platforms has become more and more severe in China as well as in other Asian countries. And this has been doing harm to broadcasting industry. As broadcasting industry heavily relies on advertising, the size of audience is key to broadcasters. However, with unlimited broadcast capacity, low transmission cost, and more importantly, zero cost piracy content, various new media platforms is attracting more and more audience. As Chinese professor Wang Qian points out, when the simultaneously piracy of broadcaster’s signal become rampant, the loss of audience and the decline of advertising revenue will become inevitable for broadcasters. And the sale of audiovisual products will drop as well.
However, in China and many other Asian countries, legislation for the protection of Broadcaster’s Signal has been inadequate. In most countries, the regulations regarding the protection for broadcasting organizations originate from the Rome Convention (1961). In which, the copyright law prohibits broadcasters to rebroadcast the signal without licencing. However, in the field of new media, how to regulate the simultaneously rebroadcasting of
Broadcaster’s Signal is still disputative. Based on Rome Convention, ‘broadcasting’ is defined as transmission by wireless means for public reception of sounds or of images and sounds. Based on Berne Convention, broadcasting and related rights are limited in ‘wireless communications, public communication of broadcast by wire or rebroadcast’. Based on WPPT, ‘broadcasting’ refers to ‘the transmission by wireless means for public reception of sounds or of images and sounds or of the representations thereof; such transmission by satellite is also ‘broadcasting’; transmission of encrypted signals is ‘broadcasting’ where the means for decrypting are provided to the public by the broadcasting organization or with its consent . Based on these treaties or conventions, the protection of Broadcaster’s Signal are limited in the transmission by wire or wireless means for public reception, not including internet or other new media platform. This creates a grey area in the copyright protection. While new media operators or users can easily convert the broadcaster’s signals into live streamings and ‘rebroadcast’ them on the web, the traditional broadcasters have no means to stop the infringements by law. In the long run broadcasting industry will suffer heavy losses.
Ultimately, the hope of broadcasting industry lies in the BROADCASTER’S TREATY - the only copyright treaty which may protect the broadcaster’s signal on new media platform. The Broadcaster’s Treaty may not only provides a stable international legal framework for broadcasters, grants exclusive rights to broadcasters in an effective manner, provides anti- piracy function and protection against signal ‘theft’, but also protects vast investment of broadcasting. Here we appeal to the broadcasters as well as the governments in Asia-Pacific area, to support the Treaty, and create a level playing field for both traditional and new broadcasting media.
ABU News 21
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