Wipo Bill Is Now Law

WASHINGTON, D.C.‹The finishing touch for U.S. passage of the two World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) treaties was put in place Oct. 28 when President Clinton signed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The act implements legislation that brings U.S. copyright law into harmony with the two treaties, which protect copyrighted material on the Internet.
Clinton's action on the U.S.' WIPO blueprint plan follows ratification of the digital-age treaties by the Senate Oct. 21 (Billboard, Oct. 31). The U.S. is the first major power to ratify the treaties, which will require the ratification of 30 signatory nations before they go into effect.
On Oct. 27, the president also signed the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, which amends U.S. copyright law by extending the term of copyright protection from life of the author plus 50 years to the international standard of life plus 70 years.
The act, however, is saddled with a compromise amendment offering "background music" licensing exemptions for qualifying restaurants, bars, and retail locations. It has already been criticized by European and Irish authors' and music publishers' groups, which, while welcoming the term-extension provisions, argue that the music-licensing exemptions in the amendment corrupt present rights (Billboard, Oct. 31).