Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works

“ Declaration The Declaration, simultaneously adopted, interpreting the convention of Berne and the Paris additional act, declared (1) that protection depends solely on accomplishment in the country of origin of the conditions and formalities prescribed therein; (2) that "published works" (œuvres publiées) means works actually issued to the public (œuvres éditées) in one of the Union countries —"consequently, the representation of a dramatic or dramatico-musical work, the performance of a musical work, the exhibition of works of art, do not constitute publication" ”

“ If the country of first publication avails itself of this right, the other
countries of the Union shall not be required to grant to works thus subjected to special treatment a wider protection than
that granted to them in the country of first publication.
(3) No restrictions introduced by virtue of the preceding paragraph shall affect the rights which an author may have
acquired in respect of a work published in a country of the Union before such restrictions were put into force. ”

“ Translations, adaptations, arrangements of music and other reproductions transformed from a literary or artistic work, as well as compilations from different works, are protected as original works without prejudice to the rights of the author of the original work." The contracting countries are pledged to secure protection fully for these categories and for photographic works and "works obtained by any process analogous to photography" and to protect "works of art applied to industry" so far as domestic legislation allows. ”

“ This is exactly the kind of scenario that is likely to arise more frequently as Member countries seek consistency in the term of copyright protection accorded to copyright works [9] and as more and more works are first published online. In this situation, the Berne Convention offers little guidance. This creates legal uncertainties for Member countries such as the United States in determining whether a work first published over the Internet is a domestic or foreign work for the purpose of applying national copyright formalities. ”

“ All dramatic rights in it are fully protected by copyright, in the United States, Great Britain, and all countries subscribing to the Berne Convention. NO PUBLIC OR PRIVATE PERFORMANCE—PROFESSIONAL OR AMATEUR—MAY BE GIVEN WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR AND THE PAYMENT OF ROYALTY. As the courts have also ruled that the PUBLIC READING of a play, for pay or where tickets are sold, constitutes a "PERFORMANCE," no such reading may be given except under conditions above stated.
Anyone disregarding the author's rights renders himself liable to prosecution. ”

“ It isn’t a pleasant thing, after all, to have one’s printing-house and bindery burned to the ground, even for so laudable an object. Suppose we have the law: a little civilized recognition of the rights of authors (merely by way of clincher, however, to the absolute, primary and indefeasible rights of publishers) might be an agreeable change from this barbarous system of non-protection. The old plan, it must be admitted, has its disadvantages. ”

“ The minimum term of protection laid down by the Berne Convention, namely the life of the author and 50 years after his death, was intended to provide protection for the author and the first two generations of his descendants. The average lifespan in the Community has grown longer, to the point where this term is no longer sufficient to cover two generations. ”

“ As to architecture and artistic crafts the Conference recommended (resolution 9) that “an original work of art should not lose the protection of artistic copyright solely because it consists of, or is embodied in, a work of architecture or craftsmanship; but it should be clearly understood that such protection is confined to its artistic form and does not extend to the processes or methods of reproduction, or to an industrial design capable of registration under the law relating to designs and destined to be multiplied by way of manufacture or trade.” ”

“ The leading case about encyclopaedias is that of Lawrence and Bullen, decided by the House of Lords in 1904. Artistic Copyright
19. Literary authors had protection for their literary work much earlier than artists for their artistic productions. Pictures and illustrations, when included in books or newspapers, are protected by the law which applies to the latter, but that is a separate question. It was not until the reign of George II. that the legislature in England afforded any protection for the work of artists. ”

“ Anyone who writes a book, a play, or music, and even those who make etchings and engravings, are protected, but the law does not apply to the painter or the sculptor. I do not believe that the Supreme Court would decide in our favor, for over here we are more apt to follow the English law, where the buyer, unless otherwise stated, retains the copyright, and not the French law, where the artist always has it. ”

“ Great Britain is the only country in the International Copyright Union which has declined to accept the declarative interpretation made in Paris in 1896 of the Berne convention of 1886, declaring that performance does not constitute publication. Thus if a dramatic or musical work is first publicly performed outside the British dominions, the performing right is extinguished therein, unless protected under the international copyright acts, though first publication outside the British dominions of a work first publicly performed within them, may not extinguish the performing right. ”

“ The author's creation is his own, and he has a natural right to the use of it without interference. The state does not create this right, but recognizes it and protects it. Protection is secured by restricting the liberty of other people in the use of the author's creation. ”

“ Any rights in a work eligible for protection under this title that derive from this title, other Federal or State statutes, or the common law, shall not be expanded or reduced by virtue of, or in reliance upon, the provisions of the Berne Convention, or the adherence of the United States thereto."; and (4) by inserting after section 116 the following new section: "Section 116A. Negotiated licenses for public performances by means of coin- operated phonorecord players " (a) Applicability of Section.—This section applies to any nondramatic musical work embodied in a phonorecord. " ”

“ Yet it is still possible for an incorporated organization to waylay and imprison art: to exercise by accusation a censorship which impermanence makes no less dangerous. Until the difference between the liberty permitted to art and the license forbidden to the vulgar be clearly defined, it remains impossible for any artist to foreknow how fully he may describe and thereby interpret life as he sees it, or for the community to enjoy uninterrupted access to much of the best of ancient and modern literature. ”

“ As discussed earlier, procedures permitting the copyright registration of restored works are not formalities in violation of the Berne Convention. Registration is entirely voluntary for Berne works since copyright registration of restored works is not a prerequisite for the filing of a copyright infringement action. Registration of a claim in a work involves significant additional work and by law requires a fee. ”