The 1961 Rome Convention granted performers in audiovisual works such as feature films, videos and television dramas rights against unauthorised broadcasts or recordings of their performances. Under the Convention, and in contrast to performers in sound-only recordings (CDs, MP3 files etc.), once performers in audiovisual works have consented to the initial recording of their performance they do not have any rights over its use. However, a number of countries do have domestic legislation that grants certain rights to performers in audiovisual works, including the right to be paid when these works are copied, distributed or broadcast.
Introduction When we launched the Copyright Evidence Portal, our ambition was no less than to create a catalogue of all existing empirical studies about copyright. This ambition, and the resulting huge body of work (over 850 studies), inspired us to think about new ways to interpret this empirical literature, and to offer a state-of-the-art overview…
In the midst of the economic and social paralysis arising from the COVID 19 pandemic, the tireless discipline of law has prevailed as always, if anything with increased activity. The Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances (BTAP, hereinafter the “Treaty”) came into force on 28 April 2020 in the first thirty contracting parties (the minimum number…
Introduction In a decision from 12 September 2018, the French Court of Cassation (hereafter: “the Court”) defines the notion of fixation of the performance of a performer in order to determine the date of such fixation for several works. This decision is particularly interesting as it deals with an issue that has mostly been disregarded…
11 years have passed since the last attempt of WIPO to promote an Audiovisual Performance Treaty which would bring the performer’s protection to meet the challenges of the digital era. The path to the adoption of such a Treaty seems to be prima facie open after the WIPO’s General Assembly Decision of 30th of September…
