June 19, 1996

Contact: Craig D'Ooge (202) 707-9189

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Media Advisory: Copyright Seminar for the Countries of the Commonwealth Independent States

The International Copyright Institute (ICI), a training facility of the U.S. Copyright Office, in conjunction with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, will present a Seminar on Current Issues of Copyright and Neighboring Rights for C.I.S. Countries given for the member nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Commonwealth is comprised of the states that made up the former USSR. The Conference will be held June 24-26, 1996 in Washington D.C. and June 27-28, 1996 in Geneva, Switzerland. The seminar, which is open to media coverage, begins at 9 a.m. on June 24 in Room LM414, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE.

Among those attending the seminar will be high level government officials from the counties of Armenia, Belarus, The Republic of Georgia, Kazakstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The Opening Ceremony will be presided over by Marybeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights of the U.S. Copyright Office, and Dr. Mihaly Ficsor, the Assistant Director General of WIPO.

The International Copyright Institute provides training for high level officials from developing and newly industrialized nations in the realm of copyright law. In the case of the C.I.S. countries, the ICI is providing a forum for dialogue between these countries that are making the transition from non-market economies to private enterprise. Some of the issues that the seminar will cover include basic treaties in the field of copyright and neighboring rights, the copyright system of the U.S., copyright law in the countries of the C.I.S., copyright and international trade (the role of the TRIPs Agreement, and regional trade agreements such as NAFTA and the bilateral trade agreement), and the fight against piracy. Shira Perlmutter, the Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs of the U.S. Copyright Office, will address the seminar on June 25, on the U.S. Copyright Law and the Global Information Infrastructure.

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PR 96-93
6/19/96
ISSN 0731-3527