The fate of the broadcast treaty is unclear after a vote Friday b...

and cablecast organizations on the committee’s agenda but also to consider convening a diplomatic conference only after “agreement on objectives, specific scope and object of protection has been achieved.” The committee has been discussing updating broadcasters’ rights for digital technologies since 1998, WIPO said. Last year, the General Assembly approved convening a diplomatic conference -- if negotiators could agree on a signal-based approach. The committee met twice in special session but discussions stalled at the June meeting, when members couldn’t agree on core issues (CD June 25 p6). The “specter of the broadcasting zombie hasn’t been dealt a death blow,” but member nations disagreed enough to block a diplomatic conference, said Thiru Balasubramaniam, Geneva representative of public interest group Knowledge Ecology International. Balasubramaniam agreed with Pakistan’s delegate, who said that perhaps “broadcasting needs a time-out.” Broadcasters’ need for international protection of enhanced signals remains critical, said NAB Senior Associate General Counsel Benjamin Ivins. Broadcasters are grateful that the General Assembly kept the matter on its agenda, he said. The decision on the treaty is subject to formal approval in an Oct. 3 General Assembly report, WIPO said.