Performers’ rights treaty upgrades IP protection for individuals

The Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, formally concluded on 26 June, has been signed by numerous countries including China. It is an international treaty to protect the rights of performers that fills in the gaps for the comprehensive protection of performers’ rights in existing international treaties.

Francis Gurry, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), has said the Beijing treaty “will enable performers to interact with greater confidence with the digital environment”. Liu Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, commented: “The successful conclusion of this treaty ends the history of performers’ rights not being accorded full intellectual property protection.”

The greatest contribution of the treaty is its conformance with historical development trends by including performers’ rights in both audio fixations and video fixations in a unified system, and providing a clearer international legal framework for the protection of performers’ rights.

Wang Yadong is the executive partner and Hu Cuiqin is a lawyer at Run Ming Law Office