This document provides an overview of the international regime for the protection of copyright. It discusses several key international treaties and organizations, including the Berne Convention, TRIPS Agreement, WIPO Copyright Treaty, and Universal Copyright Convention. The document outlines some of the basic principles and provisions of these agreements, such as national treatment, automatic protection without formalities, minimum standards for copyright protection and enforcement. It also summarizes the purpose and key terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as an alternative to the Berne Convention for countries that disagreed with its terms.
1. Names: RONIT VINOD RATHOD
SAI RAJENDRA KADAM
PARSHIL JAIN
ADITYA OMPRAKASH KHANDELWAL
Course: BACHELOR OF COMMERCE AND BACHELOR OF LEGISLATIVE LAW HONOURS,
7th SEMESTER, ACADEMIC YEAR 2017 - 2022.
Subject: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW – I
Topic of Presentation: INTERNATIONAL REGIME FOR THE PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT.
Date of Submission:
2. CONTENTS OF THE TOPIC
1. Global Copyright
2. International Copyright Treaties and Organizations
a) Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and
i. Basic Principles
ii. Exclusive Rights
iii. Moral Rights
iv. Duration of Protection
v. The Concept of Country of Origin
b) Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
i. Provisions of TRIPS
ii. Main Features of Agreement
iii. Protection under Agreement
iv. Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
v. Dispute Settlement and Prevention : Mechanisms
c) Universal Copyright Convention
d) WIPO Copyright Treaty
3. GLOBAL COPYRIGHT
• International copyright is a copyright which by force of international agreement is extended, in reference to
the protection grantedanauthor,beyond theterritoriallimitsof the jurisdiction inwhich itwas obtained.
• Protection against unauthorized use in a particular country depends on the national laws of that country.
Most countries offer protection to foreign works under certain conditions that have been greatly simplified
byinternationalcopyright treatiesandconventions.
• There are two principal international copyright conventions, the Berne Convention for the Protection of
LiteraryandArtisticWorks(BerneConvention)andthe UniversalCopyrightConvention(UCC).
• Today, trade and commerce in any commodity takes place on a global platform. Intellectual property is no
exception to this. Therefore before looking at intellectual property and trade, we must first understand the
legal regime that governs intellectual property and the protection of this intellectual property. This regime is
whatactsthe base foranytrade,be itinternationalornational,of intellectualproperty.
5. BERNE CONVENTION FOR THE
PROTECTION OF LITERARY AND
ARTISTIC WORKS. • The Berne Convention provides that, at a minimum,
copyright protection in all signatory countries should extend
to “literary and artistic works”, including “every production in
the literary, scientific and artistic domain, whatever may be
themode orformof itsexpression.”
• The detailed list of categories of works that are protected by
copyright – and the specific definition and scope of each of
them – may slightly vary from country to country, but it
generally includes scientific articles, essays, novels, short
stories, poems, plays and other literary works; drawings,
paintings, photographs, sculptures and other two- and three-
dimensional pieces of art; films and other audiovisual works;
musicalcompositions; software andothers
6. THREE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF BERNE CONVENTION
A) The Principle of National Treatment: It means that each member country of Berne Convention must treat
the works of other member countries of Convention equally with the treatment provided to the works of
nationals. Otherwise, there should not be any discrimination in the treatment of works and protection should be
accordedequally.Thishelpsa nationwitha lowlevel protection gettingbetterprotection abroadthan itcan getat
home. Thenationalwilleventuallybring pressure to bearon theauthoritiesof hiscountry forbetterprotection.
B) Automatic Protection: Under Berne Convention, no formalities are required as preconditions to protection.
The works created protection even without following the formalities of registration. In other words, member
countries do not require their authors and publishers to give notice of the copyrighted status of the work in order
for thework to beprotected bylaw.
7. C) Independence of Protection: Enjoyment and exercise of the rights granted is independent of the
existence of protection in the country of origin of the work. International copyright protection is independent
of the existence or extent of the protection afforded by the country where the work originates. Protection in
each member state is governed by that state’s own domestic law. By becoming a signatory to the Convention,
inanyof itsversions, acountryguaranteestoenactlaws thateffectuate these goals.
8. Exclusive Rights of Authorization
• Righttotranslate,
• Righttomakeadaptationsandarrangementsofthework,
• Righttoperforminpublicdramatic, dramatic-musicalandmusical works,
• Righttoreciteliteraryworksinpublic,
• Righttocommunicatetothepublictheperformance ofsuchworks,
• Righttobroadcast
• Righttomakereproductioninany mannerorform
• Right to use the work as a basis for an audio-visual work and right to reproduce, distribute,
performinpublicorcommunicatetothepublicthataudio-visualwork
9. Moral Rights
• Righttoclaimauthorshipofthework
• Righttoobjecttoany:
Mutilation
Deformation
Modification
Otherderogatoryactioninrelationtoworkwhichwouldbe
prejudicialtotheauthor'shonourorreputation.
10. Duration of Protection
GeneralRule:Author's lifetime +50years
Incaseof anonymous orpseudonymous work :50yearsfrom the
publication
In case of cinematographic work: 50 years from release or creation of work
(if notreleased)
Incaseof works ofapplied artandphotographic works :25yearsfrom the
creationof such work
11. The concept of 'Country of Origin’
• Incase ofworksfirstpublishedinacountryofunion:-ThatCountry
• In the case of works published simultaneously in several countries of the union which
grants different terms of protection:- That country who grants shortest term of
protection
• In case of works published simultaneously in a country outside union and in a country
oftheUnion:-The countryoftheUnion
• For unpublished works or works first published in a non-signatory country :- the
countryofunionofwhichtheauthorisnational
12. TRADE RELATED ASPECTS OF
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
• The most important international intellectual property
agreement regulating remedies for intellectual property
infringement is the 1994 WTO Agreement on Trade-
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the
TRIPSAgreement).
• Basic principles:
1. Nationaltreatment(Art. 3);
2. Most-Favoured Nation Treatment(Art. 4).
• Mainfeatures:
1. Setsoutminimum standards ofIPprotection (PartII) ;
2. Requires effective enforcement measures (PartIII) ;
3. Provides an effective dispute settlement mechanism
(PartV);
4. Transitionalarrangements(PartVI)
13. a) GeneralProvisionsand BasicPrinciples:
Part I of the TRIPS Agreement sets out general provisions and basic principles of the Agreement, such as national
treatment and most-favoured-nation treatment, and exhaustion of intellectual property rights. These general provisions and
basicprinciples arediscussedinSection Bof thischapter.
b) Standards concerningtheavailability, scopeanduseofintellectualpropertyrights:
Part II of the Agreement sets out the minimum standards of IP protection to be provided by each Member in the
followingfields:
(1)copyright andrelated rights(i.e.the rightsofperformers, producers ofsound recordings andbroadcastingorganizations);
(2)trademarks,includingservicemarks;8
(3) geographicalindications;
(4)industrialdesigns;
(5) patents, includingtheprotection of newvarietiesofplants;
(6)thelayout-designsof integrated circuits;and
(7)undisclosedinformation,includingtradesecrets andtest data.
14. Standards:Theagreementexpresses minimum standardsof protection.
(I) The subjectmattertobe protected
(II) The minimum periodof protection
Enforcement:
(I) Provisionsfor domestic procedure andremediesfor the enforcement ofthe IPRs
(II) Includes general principle applicable to IPR enforcement procedure apart from
administrative, civil and criminal procedure available for enforcement of rights of the right
holder
Disputesettlement:
The agreement further provides for the settlement of disputes over IPR among the member
stateswithintheparameters ofdispute settlementprocedure.
Main features of the Agreement
15. Protection under Agreement
In addition to requiring compliance with the basic standards of the Berne Convention, the TRIPS Agreement clarifies
andaddscertain specific points:
• Article 9.2 confirms that copyright protection shall extend to expressions and not to ideas, procedures, methods of
operationormathematical concepts assuch.
• Article 10.1 provides that computer programs, whether in source or object code, shall be protected as literary works
under theBerne Convention(1971).
• The termof protection (for aperiod of20yearscountedfrom the filingdate)
The TRIPS Agreement provides that whenever the term of protection of a work, other than a photographic work or a
work ofapplied art,iscalculated on abasisotherthanthe lifeof anaturalperson,
(1) such termshallbe nolessthan 50 yearsfrom theendof thecalendar yearof authorized publication, or
(2) failing such authorized publication within 50 years from the making of the work, 50 years from the end of the
calendaryear ofmaking(Article 12).
Thus the TRIPS Agreement makes provision for the term of protection in the case that the work is created by a legal
person notanaturalperson, which was notprovided for inthe BerneConvention.
16. Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
• It is not required for a WTO member nation to establish special or separate courts for IPR, or
specially allocate resources, like human resources, special offices for enforcement, etc. for IPR
enforcement. Part III of the Agreement on Enforcement of IPR sets out the obligations on member
nations to establish administrative and judicial mechanisms through which IPR holders can seek
effective protection oftheir interests.
• Asper Article 41, membernations are obligated to ensure that enforcement procedures are “fair and
equitable”, and “not unnecessarily complicated or costly, or entail unreasonable time limits or
unwarranteddelays.”
• The Agreement also provides for certain Criminal Measures (penalties) for trademark
counterfeiting andcopyright piracy onacommercial scale.
17. Dispute Settlement and Prevention : Mechanisms
• Part V of the agreement deals with dispute settlement and prevention. Article 63 establishes the
transparency requirements. Under these requirements there is an obligation on the part of member
nations to publish or otherwise make available legal texts such as laws and judicial decisions. The
provisions relatedto disputesettlementandpreventionisgovernedbytheTRIPScouncil.Article63
establishes an obligation to notify laws and regulations to the TRIPS Council or to World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for the common register, which contains a compilation
of laws and regulations, final judicial decisions, etc. pertaining to the Agreement, should that be
decidedupon.
18. Adopted in Geneva, Switzerland, in
1952
Under the Auspices of UNESCO the
states which disagreed with the
Berne Convention became a party
to the UCC.
Features of the UCC: -
National Treatment
The term of the Work
Minimum Rights
UNIVERSAL COPYRIGHT CONVENTION
• Adopted in 1952, the Universal Copyright
Convention today stands as one of the principal
international conventions for protecting copyrights
around the world. It was initiated as a project by
the UNESCOasanalternativeto the BerneConvention.
• The adoption of the UCC was seen as an alternative
multilateral copyright protection treaty that counties
could enter into if they happened to disagree with the
BerneConvention.
21. WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION COPYRIGHT TREATY (WCT)
• TheWIPOCopyright Treaty(WCT) isaspecial agreementundertheBerne Conventionthatdeals
withtheprotection ofworks andtherightsof their authorsinthe digitalenvironment.
• WCTcame inforce onMarch 6,2002 andhasbeenadopted by96contracting partiestilldateandis a
special agreementunderBerneConvention(forprotection ofliteraryandartisticworks).
• TheWCTmentionstwosubjectmatterstobeprotected bycopyright:(i) computer programs, whatever
themodeorform oftheirexpression;and(ii)compilations of dataorothermaterial("databases"), in
anyform.
22. THE PREAMBLE OF WIPO
Outlinesthe objectives to:
(i)Maintaincopyrightprotection
(ii)Introducenewrulesandclarifyexistinginterpretation
(iii)Recognizeeffectofinformationandcommunicationtechnologies
(iv)Emphasizetheeffectofcopyrightprotectiononliteraryandartisticwork
(v)Toachieve balance
