Trinidad and Tobago finally acceded to World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)

Friday 29th August 2008

RIATT is pleased to inform its members that the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to notify him of the deposit by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, on August 28, 2008, of its instrument of accession to the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, adopted at Geneva on December 20, 1996.

The said Treaty will enter into force, with respect to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, on November 28, 2008.

WPPT provides international protection for Producers of Phonograms against unauthorized copying of their recordings in the face of new technologies including the internet. It also covers performers, such as singers and musicians.
The treaty gives performers the ‘moral right’ reasonably to be identified as the performer, and to prevent modifications that damage their reputation. WPPT Article 5 Rights of Performers.

This treaty supports the right for Producers and Performers to be financially compensated whenever their recordings and performances are publicly performed and broadcast via radio and television. WPPT Article 15 Right to Remuneration for Broadcasting and Communication to the Public.

For further information contact:
Fabien Alfonso
Email: info@riatt.org
1-868-682-8174