WIPO Headquarters in Geneva

Past the building site, through the corridor of hoardings with the name of the organisation in English, French, Arabic and Japanese, then into the foyer under a Latin inscription extolling the virtues of human art and invention. There was no doubting this was an international organisation and no doubting its purpose, furthering creation and innovation. Even the curved glass front of the 15-storey office building had the mark of ambition, reflecting blue sky or deep ocean. This was the headquarters of WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the occasion, the ratification of two international treaties by the EU.

The ceremony itself was rather low key, belying the significance of the event. 27 EU ambassadors were lined up in front of their flags, in a space slightly too small for comfort. One by one, they shuffled forward to hand over an A4 folder to Francis Gurry, the Director General of WIPO. Inside the folders were the ratification documents, officially bringing the EU into the so-called internet treaties.

With remarkable foresight, the WCT (WIPO Copyright Treaty) and WPPT (WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty) were agreed in 1996, before many people had even heard of the internet and well ahead of the havoc wreaked by Napster and its successors. The addition of the 27 EU territories brings the number of countries signed up to the treaties to 88 and 86 respectively. In a rare demonstration of international harmony, these treaties give authors, performers and producers basic rights in the works on the internet. As well as the more familiar rights over copying, distribution and communication, the key online right of making available was added. Almost throughout the world, creators and those who invest in them can expect remuneration. The principles are laudable. The reality we know is very different and only now are governments beginning to talk about measures that might make the shift from online piracy to legal usage.

So why the building site at the WIPO entrance? It is a new larger office for the organisation reflecting perhaps the growing importance of IP throughout the world, for our economies, our societies and our culture. Certainly the agenda is expanding. There is talk of an audio-visual treaty, a broadcast treaty and a treaty for visually-impaired persons. But a glance at the negotiations between the assembled nations in the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights shows that progress will be at best slow. It has taken thirteen years for the last two treaties to be ratified on a worldwide basis. How long will it take for agreement on the next treaties? And the big one, turning the making available right from principle to payment, is not even on the agenda.