Closing three weeks of debate, the World Intellectual Property Organization, convened in Geneva, has agreed on two treaties to protect copyrights on the Internet. Friday's decisions will have a broad impact on artists, writers, and musicians on the Web, as well as on libraries, Net surfers, and ISPs.
"We're still dotting the i's and crossing the t's and translating it into a million languages, but for all intents and purposes it's been agreed upon," said Lisa-Joy Zgorski, press secretary for the Patent and Trademark Office.
The Recording Industry Association of America claimed "a huge victory" that it said ensures "the global information superhighway will flourish into the 21st century." Libraries, Net surfers, and ISPs also won in the final treaties: Temporary copies of copyright materials that computers automatically make when a file is shipped from a server to a surfer will not be considered violations of copyrights.
The two treaties, which critics claim will halt online creativity, have been named the WIPO Copyright Treaty (an addendum to the Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works of 1889), and the Treaty on Performances and Phonograms. The treaties protect the rights of digital transmission and distribution by declaring that distribution of any work across the Internet makes that work available to the public, and is therefore protected by copyright laws.
The treaties also attempt to reconcile the varying copyright laws around the world, recognizing that the Internet is a global medium and needs global rights. The treaties, however, do not deal with the issue of fair use.
The final database treaty was shelved until the beginning of 1997 because it was currently "too contentious" among the 160-nation gathering, Zgorski said.
Opponents said the database proposal would radically change more than 100 years of copyright treaties by extending protection to facts, not just creative works.
