WIPO Treaty on Performances and Phonograms

The WIPO Treaty on Performances and Phonograms was concluded on December 20, 1996. It is awaiting ratification.

This treaty refers to the intellectual property rights of two types of beneficiaries: (1) performers (actors, singers, musicians, etc.) and (2) phonogram producers (the persons or legal entities that take the initiative and assume responsibility in connection with the recording of those sounds).

As far as performers are concerned, the treaty grants them four types of economic rights over their performances recorded on phonograms: (1) the right of reproduction, (2) the right of distribution, (3) the right of rental and (4) the right to make them available to the public. Each of them is an exclusive right, subject to certain limitations and exceptions.

The treaty grants performers three types of economic rights in respect of their unrecorded (live) performances: (1) the right of transmission (except in the case of rebroadcasts), (2) the right of communication to the public (except when the performance takes place in a broadcast) and (3) the recording right.

The treaty also grants performers moral rights: the right to demand credit for their performances and the right to oppose any distortion, mutilation, or other alteration that might be detrimental to their prestige.

As far as producers of phonograms are concerned, the treaty grants them four types of rights (all of an economic nature) over their phonograms: (1) the right of reproduction, (2) the right of distribution, (3) the right to rent and (4) the right to make them available to the public. Each of these rights is exclusive and subject to certain limitations and exceptions.

As regards both performers and producers of phonograms, the treaty obliges each of the contracting parties to give the citizens of the other contracting parties the same treatment as its own citizens, insofar as referring to the rights specifically recognized in the treaty.

In addition, the treaty provides that performers and producers of phonograms are entitled to a single and equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of their phonograms, whether they are published for commercial purposes, for transmission by electronic means or to communicate them to the public.

The validity of the protection must be at least 50 years.

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• United States Department of State