WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty

The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (or WPPT) is an international treaty signed by the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization and was adopted in Geneva on 20 December 1996. It came into effect on 20 May 2002. As of December 2014, the treaty has been ratified by 94 states.

WPPT was adopted with an objective to develop and maintain the protection of the rights of performers and producers of phonograms in a manner as effective and uniform as possible. This treaty would not disturb the existing obligations that Contracting Parties have to each other under the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations done in Rome, 26 October 1961 (Rome Convention). Articles 18 and 19 of the WPPT provide similar obligations for performers and producers of phonograms to contracting states as provided under Articles 11 and 12 of the WCT.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is the United States's implementation of the treaty (see WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act).