Every year, on April 26, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) celebrates the World Intellectual Property Day in order to promote discussion of the role of intellectual property (IP) in encouraging innovation and creativity. The theme chosen for 2018 is “Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity”.
Women play a crucial role in creative industries and FIA wants to take this opportunity to celebrate them and call for better protection of their rights. The career path and personal journeys of female performers are full of obstacles and yet, they keep creating and innovating day after day. Women on screen deliver unique performances, push artistic boundaries and shape new representations. But what about protecting their economic and moral rights? The WIPO Beijing Treaty will do just that, and that’s why we need to make it happen.
The Beijing treaty indeed grants performers economic rights to improve their livelihoods and derive an acceptable income from the use of their work, and also awards them moral rights to protect their image and reputation. The WIPO member States may become parties to the Treaty, which shall become binding as a minimum threshold of 30 ratifications is reached. Of course, many more should follow if the Treaty is to become a true global norm. Audiovisual performers and their representative organisations therefore campaign for countries to embrace the provisions in the Treaty and make sure their national laws are in compliance with this new standard.
On World IP Day, FIA and its worldwide membership will be sharing banners featuring feminine performers’ silhouettes on social media platforms with the hashtags #BeijingTreaty and #WorldIPday to call for the ratification of the WIPO Beijing Treaty. We invite all performers and activists who believe in global IP protection for audiovisual performances and want to celebrate creative women to join the campaign. Let’s send out our message clear and loud: RATIFY THE WIPO BEIJING TREATY!
All banners are available for download in English, French and Spanish here under: