In our capacity as accredited observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 47th session of the Committee, which is currently taking place in Geneva (1-5 December, 2025).
The following statement contains COMMUNIA’s position regarding the current draft treaty on the protection of broadcasting organizations (Agenda Item 5):
Dear Delegates,
I speak on behalf of COMMUNIA, the International Association for the Public Domain, and I am here today to ask you not to let the Broadcast Treaty turn the Public Domain into collateral damage. The current text risks allowing broadcasters to take works that are firmly in the Public Domain and lock them up again. This must be prevented.
Broadcast signals routinely carry Public Domain content that researchers, educators, and cultural heritage institutions depend on every day. Layering exclusive rights on top of Public Domain content would allow broadcasters to re-enclose material that is meant to belong to everyone, creating new obstacles for access to knowledge.
The Public Domain should not be up for negotiation. The Treaty must guarantee that when the content of a signal is in the Public Domain, broadcasters cannot claim exclusive rights or restrict lawful uses.
At the same time, the text still contains no mandatory exceptions. As already mentioned, broadcast signals routinely carry content that is vital for education, research, and democratic participation. The Treaty cannot be adopted without at least the same mandatory exceptions that already exist for copyrighted works, including quotation and news reporting, for those following a rights-based approach. Without these minimum guarantees, broadcasters could obtain more control than copyright owners have over the same content.
In sum, we urge the Committee to include clear Public Domain protections and a baseline of mandatory exceptions. Only then can this instrument be truly balanced and aligned with its stated objective: to prevent signal piracy, not to cut the signal for educators, researchers, and cultural heritage institutions.
Thank you.
