The 20th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright has taken place in Geneva on June 21-24, 2010.
Portugal was represented by the Ministry of Culture and SPA, which enjoys the status of observer. The agenda of this meeting, which brought together several tens of delegations from all over the world, featured such items as the protection of broadcasting organizations and the protection of audiovisual performances. The different forms of piracy were also addressed, bringing out a considerable variety of points of view, but also a generalized condemnation of piracy due to the losses it causes for authors, producers and broadcasters.
SPA, represented by its President of the Board of Administrators and Vice President of the Board of Directors, José Jorge Letria, was in contact with the Portuguese diplomatic representation at WIPO with a view to a potential support from that organization to the cooperative’s initiatives on the protection and promotion of copyright, namely youth awareness campaigns. Cooperation possibilities were reviewed in a meeting with the Portuguese ambassador at WIPO and the delegation’s legal adviser.
The Ministry of Culture was represented by Mr. Nuno Gonçalves, who is in charge of the Copyright Office of that government body.
It should be recalled that SPA released a comic book on the protection of copyright in 2009. Published by WIPO, it has been translated into Portuguese and distributed all over the country via the cooperative’s branch offices. The comic book is mainly addressed to school audiences.
June 25, 2010
