Re: WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Survey -- call for volunteers

>> I know from my research into the Berne Convention that this proposals
>> violates 3 important principles. (mentioned explicitly)

>> 1) It allows re-classifying of public domain works. This is forbidden
>> under The Berne Convention.

> Um... I may have been wrong in my prior reply, then.

well, yes and no.  You said a broadcast of the work is the `property' of
the broadcaster, and I doubt you are wrong there, if only by analogy
with a publisher's rights in the *typography* (though not the content)
of a public-domain novel.  You said the argument needs better expressed,
which I expect is true - precisely because (if the misrepresentation of
the EU patent proposals is anything to go by) we can expect those
pushing this argument to blur the distinction all they can between "the
broadcaster gets rights over the broadcast" and "the source work they
broadcast ceases being public domain" (which (1) appears to be saying).

We need to be able to say "there is a fundamental difference between
  * the broadcaster owns rights in a particular arrangement (of materials
    over which the broadcaster owns no rights) [in so far as the
    arrangement contains enough of a creative step to deserve
    protection] and
  * the broadcaster can obtain rights in relation to the works of others
    other than by the willing consent of those others
which makes the latter uncountenanceable, though we're more than happy
to see open and frank negotiations in relation to the former, as long as
our elected representatives stand up for the public interest" or some
similar position.

gotta dash

	Eddy.