Examination of the WCT
WIPO Copyright Treaty
The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) is a special agreement accepted under the Berne Convention that entered into force on March 6, 2002. It is the first international treaty that provides copyright protection to computer programs and to databases (compilations of data or other material). According to the WCT, computer programs are protected as literary works regardless of their mode or form of their expression, whereas databases have to constitute an intellectual creation by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents. This means that the material of the databases have to be selected or arranged in an original way in order for the database to be protected by the treaty.
The WCT further provides that the contracting countries have to prohibit efficiently in their dominion the circumvention of technological measures set by the authors for their protection works, such as decryption, as well as measures against the unauthorized modification of the so called “rights management information”. The rights management information is certain data that identify works or their authors, and that necessary for the management of their rights.
Moreover, the WCT provides to the authors rights, which they may not have under the Berne Convention alone. More specifically authors have under the WCT (1) the right of distribution, (2) the right of rental, and (3) the right of communication to the public. Ofcourse these rights are subjected to limitations and exceptions, as these are defined by the WCT.
The WCT has been heavily criticized as being overbroad; the circumvention of technical protection measures is prohibited, even where such circumvention is used to pursue legal and fair use rights. Besides, the WCT does not take into account the differing stages of economic development and knowledge industry among its members and thus applies a 'one size fits all' standard to both developing and developed countries, instead of differentiating among them.
Note that the WCT is open only to Members of WIPO and to the European Community. Therefore only those countries can access the WCT without any modification of the original agreements. The Assembly constituted by the Treaty may decide to admit other intergovernmental organizations to become party to the WCT.