Conference on Collective Management of Copyright & Related Rights in North America

Nashville, October 17 to 19, 2007

WIPO is in the process of organizing a conference on issues devoted to collective management of copyright and related rights to be held in Nashville from October 17 to 19, 2007.

The Conference will be organized by WIPO with the cooperation of the Vanderbilt University and the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), and with the assistance of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and SESAC Inc..

Since the WIPO International Forum on the Exercise and Management of Copyright and Neighboring Rights in the Face of the Challenges of Digital Technology, held in Sevilla, Spain, from May 14 to 16, 1997, what are the new developments that took place during the decade?

The objectives of the Conference will be to address important aspects of rights management in the interlinked technological environment.  The Conference would take stock of the developments that have taken place with the challenges raised by digital technology over the recent years.  The different solutions that have been worked out to resolve problems faced by the collective management organizations in the world, in particular in North of America, have resulted in new avenues, challenges and improvements for the exercise of management of rights.

The Conference would aim at gathering all the relevant key players in this context to discuss and analyze the oriented business models to fulfill expectations of rights owners, consumers and users and the public at large, without impairing collective management systems that should remain the best guarantee for the social, cultural and economic interests for the world of creators.

The Conference is open to everyone: representatives from WIPO Member States, from intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, collective management organizations, academia, the copyright industries, content and services providers, developers of digital technology, lawyers, attorneys, law enforcement officials, judges, prosecutors, students, etc.