Bern Convention for the Protection of Works of Literature and Art

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Bern Convention for the Protection of Works of Literature and Art
Short title: Berne Convention
Title (engl.): Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
Abbreviation: (R) BÜ
Date: September 9, 1886
Reference: WIPO Lex No. TRT / BERNE / 009 (PDF, 2.6 MB)
Reference (German): Original version: RGBl. 1887 p. 493; Paris version: BGBl. 1973 II p. 1069 , amended on October 2, 1979: BGBl. 1985 II p. 81
Contract type: Multinational
Legal matter: Copyright / Intellectual Property Law
Signing: September 9, 1886
Ratification : 178 member states (February 11, 2020)

Germany: December 5, 1887
Liechtenstein: July 20, 1931
Austria: October 1, 1920
Switzerland: December 5, 1887
Published in the Reich Law Gazette on September 30, 1887
Published in the Reich Law Gazette on September 30, 1887
Please note the note on the applicable contract version .

Member states

The Bern Convention for the Protection of Works of Literature and Art is an international agreement that was adopted in Bern in 1886 .

History and content

The Berne Convention, which was signed by ten states on September 9, 1886 and initially entered into force in eight states (Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Tunisia) on December 5, 1887, established for the first time the recognition of copyright between sovereign nations. It was drawn up at the request of Victor Hugo . Before ratification, states often refused to treat the works of other nations as protected. For example, a work published in London that was protected in Great Britain could be freely distributed in France and vice versa.

In the following period there were several revisions. Since 1908 one speaks of the revised Berne Convention (RBÜ). Austria acceded to the treaty in 1920 under Article 239 of the Treaty of St. Germain .

Article 5.1 of the Berne Convention provides that each contracting state recognizes the protection of the works of the citizens of other contracting parties as well as the protection of the works of its own citizens (national treatment). This equation of foreign authors with domestic authors makes it unnecessary to research the foreign protective regulations. Protection takes place automatically in accordance with the Berne Convention, which means that no registration or copyright notice is required.

The (R) BÜ guarantees a period of protection of at least fifty years beyond the death of the author (post mortem auctoris) . The contracting states are free to extend this period. For example, in 1993 the European Union, in its efforts to harmonize copyright protection, extended this period to 70 years. The United States followed suit with the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998.

The USA originally refused to join the Berne Convention, as this would have required major changes in its copyright law (in particular with regard to moral rights and the registration of works to be protected). Therefore, that was 1952 Universal Copyright Convention (Universal Copyright Convention, UCC) of UNESCO believed that diminish these concerns. However, since March 1, 1989, the Bern Agreement has also been in effect there.

The Berne Convention has been administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) since 1967 .

The World Trade Organization (WTO) in the Uruguay Round , the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS introduced mandatory) for its member states. Since the vast majority of states are members of the WTO, non-signatories of the Berne Accord are also obliged to accept a large part of its conditions.

Quotes

“The heads of state of the German Empire, Belgium, Spain, France, Great Britain, Haiti, Italy, Liberia, Switzerland and Tunisia, equally inspired by the desire to protect the copyright in works of literature and art in an effective and as uniform manner as possible, have decided to conclude an agreement for this purpose. "

- Final communiqué of September 9, 1886

“The book as a book belongs to the author, but as a thought it belongs - the term is by no means too powerful - to humanity. Every thinking person has a right to it. If one of the two rights, that of the author or that of the human mind, were to be sacrificed, it would, no doubt, be the author's right, for our only concern is the public interest and the general public, I declare, comes before us . "

- Victor Hugo

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. wipo.int (PDF).
  2. ^ Murray G. Hall: Österreichische Verlagsgeschichte 1918–1938. Volume 1, Hermann Böhlaus Nachfahren, Graz 1985, p. 37.
  3. a b Oliver Tolmein: The hour of birth of copyright law. In: Calendar sheet (broadcast on DLF ). September 9, 2011, accessed September 13, 2011 .