ABSTRACT

The WIPO Performance and Phonogram treaty granted performers four kinds of economic rights in their performances fixed on a phonorecord. First, the treaty provides performers with the right to authorize direct or indirect reproduction of phonogram in any manner or form. Second, this treaty provides a performer the right to distribute the original phonogram and copies through the sale or other transfer of ownership. Third, the treaty provides a performer the right to commercially rent the original and copies of a phonogram to the public, as determined in the national law of signatory nations. Finally, the WIPO treaty provides a performer the right to make available a performance fixed on a phonogram via wire or wireless means. Specifically, this right covers on-demand and interactive performances available through the Internet. To protect the right of performance over the Internet, the Performance and Phonogram Treaty obliges contracting parties to provide legal remedies against the circumvention of technological measures. This includes the removal or altering of information (rights management information) indicating the identity of a performer, producer, or phonogram used for licensing or the collection and distribution of royalties. The treaty also established that the term of the protection should be for a period of 50 years from fixation of the phonorecord. Finally, regardless of a performer’s economic rights, the treaty upheld the moral rights of an author against any distortion, mutilation, or modification of their work that would be “prejudicial” to their reputation.