The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing copyright, which was first accepted in Berne,Switzerland, in 1886.


The Berne Convention requires its signatories to recognize the copyright of works of authors from other signatory countries (known as members of the Berne Union) in the same way as it recognizes the copyright of its own nationals.

In addition to establishing a system of equal treatment that internationalised copyright amongst signatories, the agreement also required member states to provide strong minimum standards for copyright law.

Copyright under the Berne Convention must be automatic; it is prohibited to require formal registration

Applicabilit

Under Article 3, the protection of the Convention applies to nationals and residents of signatory countries, and to works first published or simultaneously published (under Article 3(4), "simultaneously" is defined as "within 30 days") in a signatory country. Under Article 4, it also applies to cinematic works by persons who have their headquarters or habitual residence in a signatory country, and to architectural works situated in a signatory country.

Country of origin

The Convention relies on the concept of "country of origin". Often determining the country of origin is straightforward: when a work is published in a signatory country and nowhere else, this is the country of origin. However, under Article 5(4), when a work is published simultaneously in several signatory countries (under Article 3(4), "simultaneously" is defined as "within 30 days" ), the country with the shortest term of protection is defined as the country of origin.

For works simultaneously published in a signatory country and one or more non-signatory countries, the signatory country is the country of origin. For unpublished works or works first published in a non-signatory country (without publication within 30 days in a signatory country), the author's nationality usually provides the country of origin, if a national of a signatory country. (There are exceptions for cinematic and architectural works.)

In the internet age, publication online may be considered publication in every sufficiently internet-connected jurisdiction in the world. It is not clear what this may mean for determining "country of origin". In Kernel v. Mosley, a U.S. court "concluded that a work created outside of the United States, uploaded in Australia and owned by a company registered in Finland was nonetheless a U.S. work by virtue of its being published online". However other U.S. courts in similar situations have reached different conclusions, e.g. Håkan Moberg v. 33T LLC.The matter of determining the country of origin for digital publication remains a topic of controversy among law academics as well.

Copyright term

The Berne Convention states that all works except photographic and cinematographic shall be copyrighted for at least 50 years after the author's death, but parties are free to provide longer terms,^[7] as the European Union did with the 1993Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection. For photography, the Berne Convention sets a minimum term of 25 years from the year the photograph was created, and for cinematography the minimum is 50 years after first showing, or 50 years after creation if it hasn't been shown within 50 years after the creation. Countries under the older revisions of the treaty may choose to provide their own protection terms, and certain types of works (such as phonorecords and motion pictures) may be provided shorter terms.

If the author is unknown, because for example the author was deliberately anonymous or worked under a pseudonym, the Convention provides for a term of 50 years after publication ("after the work has been lawfully made available to the public"). However if the identity of the author becomes known, the copyright term for known authors (50 years after death) applies.

Although the Berne Convention states that the copyright law of the country where copyright is claimed shall be applied, Article 7(8) states that "unless the legislation of that country otherwise provides, the term shall not exceed the term fixed in the country of origin of the work", i.e., an author is normally not entitled a longer copyright abroad than at home, even if the laws abroad give a longer term. This is commonly known as "the rule of the shorter term". Not all countries have accepted this rule.

Fair use

The Berne Convention authorizes countries to allow "fair" uses of copyrighted works in other publications or broadcasts.Implementations of this part of the treaty fall into the broad categories of fair use and fair dealing.

The Agreed Statement of the parties to the WIPO Copyright Treaty of 1996 states that: "It is understood that the mere provision of physical facilities for enabling or making a communication does not in itself amount to communication within the meaning of this Treaty or the Berne Convention."^[ This language may mean that Internet service providers are not liable for the infringing communications of their users.Critics claim that the convention does not mention any other rights of consumers of works except for fair use.

Since almost all nations are members of the World Trade Organization, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights requires non-members to accept almost all of the conditions of the Berne Convention.

As of September 2014, there are 168 states that are parties to the Berne Convention. This includes 167 UN member states.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention