Summary of the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) (1996)

The Treaty deals with intellectual property rights of two kinds of beneficiaries: 

(i) performers (actors, singers, musicians, etc.), and 
(ii) producers of phonograms (the persons or legal entities who or which take the initiative and have the responsibility for the fixation of the sounds). 

They are dealt with in the same instrument because most of the rights granted by the Treaty to performers are rights connected with their fixed, purely aural performances (which are the subject matter of phonograms).

As far as performers are concerned, the Treaty grants performers four kinds of economic rights in their performances fixed in phonograms (not in audiovisual fixations, such as motion pictures): 

(i) the right of reproduction, 
(ii) the right of distribution, 
(iii) the right of rental, and 
(iv) the right of making available. 

Each of them is an exclusive right, subject to certain limitations and exceptions. Not all of those limitations and exceptions are mentioned in the following:

• the right of reproduction is the right to authorize direct or indirect reproduction of the phonogram in any manner or form,
• the right of distribution is the right to authorize the making available to the public of the original and copies of the phonogram through sale or other transfer of ownership,
• the right of rental is the right to authorize the commercial rental to the public of the original and copies of the phonogram as determined in the national law of the Contracting Parties (except for countries that since April 15, 1994, have in force a system of equitable remuneration for such rental),
• the right of making available is the right to authorize the making available to the public, by wire or wireless means, of any performance fixed in a phonogram, in such a way that members of the public may access the fixed performance from a place and at a time individually chosen by them. This right covers, in particular, on-demand, interactive making available through the Internet.

The Treaty grants three kinds of economic rights to performers in respect of their unfixed (live) performances:

(i) the right of broadcasting (except in the case of rebroadcasting),
(ii) the right of communication to the public (except where the performance is a broadcast performance), and
(iii) the right of fixation.

The Treaty also grants performers moral rights: the right to claim to be identified as the performer and the right to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification that would be prejudicial to the performer’s reputation.

As far as producers of phonograms are concerned, the Treaty grants them four kinds of rights (all economic) in their phonograms: 

(i) the right of reproduction, 
(ii) the right of distribution, 
(iii) the right of rental, and 
(iv) the right of making available. 

Each of them is an exclusive right, subject to certain limitations and exceptions. Not all of those limitations and exceptions are mentioned in the following:

• the right of reproduction is the right to authorize direct or indirect reproduction of the phonogram in any manner or form,
• the right of distribution is the right to authorize the making available to the public of the original and copies of the phonogram through sale or other transfer of ownership,
• the right of rental is the right to authorize the commercial rental to the public of the original and copies of the phonogram as determined in the national law of the Contracting Parties (except for countries that since April 15, 1994, have in force a system of equitable remuneration for such rental),
• the right of making available is the right to authorize making available to the public the phonogram, by wire or wireless means, in such a way that members of the public may access the phonogram from a place and at a time individually chosen by them. This right covers, in particular, on-demand, interactive making available through the Internet.

As far as both performers and phonogram producers are concerned, the Treaty obliges—subject to various exceptions and limitations not mentioned here—each Contracting Party to accord to nationals of the other Contracting Parties with regard to the rights specifically granted in the Treaty the treatment it accords to its own nationals (“national treatment”).

Furthermore, the Treaty provides that performers and producers of phonograms enjoy the right to a single equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of phonograms, published for commercial purposes, for broadcasting or for communication to the public. However, any Contracting Party may restrict or—provided that it makes a reservation to the Treaty—deny this right. In the case and to the extent of a reservation by a Contracting Party, the other Contracting Parties are permitted to deny, vis-à-vis the reserving Contracting Party, national treatment (“reciprocity”).

The term of protection must be at least 50 years.

The enjoyment and exercise of the rights provided in the Treaty cannot be subject to any formality.

The Treaty obliges the Contracting Parties to provide legal remedies against the circumvention of technological measures (e.g., encryption) used by performers or phonogram producers in connection with the exercise of their rights and against the removal or altering of information, such as the indication of certain data that identify the performer, the performance, the producer of the phonogram and the phonogram, necessary for the management (e.g., licensing, collecting and distribution of royalties) of the said rights (“rights management information”).

The Treaty obliges each Contracting Party to adopt, in accordance with its legal system, the measures necessary to ensure the application of the Treaty. In particular, the Contracting Party must ensure that enforcement procedures are available under its law so as to permit effective action against any act of infringement of rights covered by the Treaty. Such action must include expeditious remedies to prevent infringement and remedies which constitute a deterrent to further infringements.

The Treaty establishes an Assembly of the Contracting Parties whose main task is to deal with matters concerning the maintenance and development of the Treaty, and it entrusts to the Secretariat of WIPO the administrative tasks concerning the Treaty.

The Treaty entered into force on May 20, 2002. The Director General of WIPO is the depositary of the Treaty.

The Treaty is open to States members of WIPO and to the European Community. The Assembly constituted by the Treaty may decide to admit other intergovernmental organizations to become party to the Treaty.