Berne Convention

Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and

Artistic Works 1886
• The oldest international agreement in
the field of copyright
• 38 Articles
• Revised Time to Time
• Latest Revision – 1971
• WIPO
• The Convention deals with the protection
of works and the rights of their authors.
• Based on three basic principles and
contains a series of provisions
determining the minimum protection to
be granted, as well as special provisions
available to developing countries that
want to make use of them.
The three basic principles
• (a) Works originating in one of the Contracting
States (works the author of which is a national
of such a State or works first published in such
a State) must be given the same protection in
each of the other Contracting States as the
latter grants to the works of its own nationals
(principle of "national treatment")
• (b) Protection must not be conditional
upon compliance with any formality
(principle of "automatic" protection)
• (c) Protection is independent of the existence of
protection in the country of origin of the work
(principle of "independence" of protection).
• If, however, a Contracting State provides for a
longer term of protection than the minimum
prescribed by the Convention and the work
ceases to be protected in the country of origin,
protection may be denied once protection in the
country of origin ceases
• The minimum standards of protection
relate to the works and rights to be
protected, and to the duration of
protection:
• As to works, protection must include
"every production in the literary,
scientific and artistic domain, whatever
the mode or form of its expression"
(Article 2(1) of the Convention).
• Subject to certain allowed
reservations, limitations or
exceptions, various rights must be
recognized as exclusive rights of
authorization which includes..
• the right to translate,
• the right to make adaptations and
arrangements of the work,
• the right to perform in public dramatic,
dramatico-musical and musical works,
• the right to recite literary works in public,
• the right to communicate to the public the
performance of such works,
• the right to broadcast (with the
possibility that a Contracting State may
provide for a mere right to equitable
remuneration instead of a right of
authorization),
• the right to use the work as a basis for
an audiovisual work, and the right to
reproduce, distribute, perform in public
or communicate to the public that
audiovisual work
• the right to make reproductions in any manner or
form (with the possibility that a Contracting State
may permit, in certain special cases, reproduction
without authorization, provided that the
reproduction does not conflict with the normal
exploitation of the work and does not
unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of
the author; and the possibility that a Contracting
State may provide, in the case of sound recordings
of musical works, for a right to equitable
remuneration),
• The Convention also provides for "moral
rights", that is, the right to claim
authorship of the work and the right to
object to any mutilation, deformation or
other modification of, or other
derogatory action in relation to, the work
that would be prejudicial to the author's
honor or reputation.
• As to the duration of protection, the general
rule is that protection must be granted until
the expiration of the 50th year after the
author's death – Subject to exceptions.
• The Convention allows certain limitations and
exceptions on economic rights, that is, cases in
which protected works may be used without
the authorization of the owner of the
copyright, and without payment of
compensation.
• These limitations are commonly referred to as
"free uses" of protected works, and are set
forth in Articles 9(2) (reproduction in certain
special cases), 10 (quotations and use of
works by way of illustration for teaching
purposes), 10bis (reproduction of newspaper
or similar articles and use of works for the
purpose of reporting current events) and
11bis(3) (ephemeral recordings for
broadcasting purposes).

Berne Convention

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Berne Convention

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Berne Convention for the

Protection of Literary and

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