The 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaties: 10 Years Later. Panel 1: Drafting, Policy, and Implementation

November 10, 2006 Center for Law, Technology and the Arts Cosponsored by: the Frederick K Cox International Law Center Summary: Fifth Annual LTA Symposium David Vaver, Professor of Intellectual Property and IT Law, University of Oxford Lydia Loren, Professor & Acting Dean, Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College Graeme Dinwoodie, Professor, Associate Dean, Director of the Program in IP Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law Mira Sundara Rajan, Canada Research Chair in Intellectual Property Law, University of British Columbia, Vancouver In 1996, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted two treaties pertaining to copyrights in the digital age the Copyright Treaty, and the Performances and Phonograms Treaty. As a result, legislatures from signatory countries, including the U.S., adopted various revisions to their copyright legislation. In the U.S., this included the enactment of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as well as attempts to draft legislation to protect proprietary interests in valuable commercial databases. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the treaties. The symposium will provide a 10-year retrospective on the legal and policy issues underlying the adoption of the treaties and the ramifications of the implementation of relevant treaty provisions into local law. The symposium will include speakers from the U.S. and various other jurisdictions to compare legislative and judicial approaches to a number of issues arising under the WIPO treaties