Section 97p. 97

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW COMPENDIUM VOLUME II

Berne Convention for the Protection of

Literary and Artistic Works

July 24, 1971

BERNE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF

LITERARY AND ARTISTIC WORKS *

[Paris Act of July 24, 1971, as amended on September 28,

1979]

The countries of the Union, being equally animated by

the desire to protect, in as effective and uniform a

manner as possible, the rights of authors in their literary

and artistic works,

Recognizing the importance of the work of the Revision

Conference held at Stockholm in 1967,

Have resolved to revise the Act adopted by the Stockholm

Conference, while maintaining without change Articles 1

to 20 and 22 to 26 of that Act

Consequently, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, having

presented their full powers, recognized as in good and

due form, have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE 1

Establishment of a Union

The countries to which this Convention applies constitute

a Union for the protection of the rights of authors in their

literary and artistic works.

ARTICLE 2

Protected Works : 1 . "Literary and Artistic works" ; 2 .

Possible Requirement of Fixation ; 3 . Derivative Works ; 4 .

Official Texts ; 5 . Collections ; 6 . Obligation to

Protect ; Beneficiaries of Protection ; 7 . Works of Applied

Art and Industrial Designs ; 8 . News

(1) The expression "literary and artistic works" shall include

every production in the literary, scientific and artistic

domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its

expression, such as books, pamphlets and other writings;

lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of the same

nature;

dramatic

or

dramatico-musical

works;

choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show;

musical

compositions

with

or

without

words;

cinematographic works to which are assimilated works

expressed by a process analogous to cinematography;

works

of

drawing,

painting,

architecture,

sculpture,

engraving and lithography; photographic works to which

are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous

to photography; works of applied art; illustrations, maps,

plans, sketches and three-dimensional works relative to

geography, topography, architecture or science.

(2) It shall, however, be a matter for legislation in the

countries of the Union to prescribe that works in general

or

any

specified

categories

of

works

shall

not

be

protected unless they have been fixed in some material

form.

(3) Translations, adaptations, arrangements of music and

other alterations of a literary or artistic work shall be

protected as original works without prejudice to the

copyright in the original work.

(4) It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of

the Union to determine the protection to be granted to

official texts of a legislative, administrative and legal

nature, and to official translations of such texts.

(5)

Collections

of

literary

or

artistic

works

such

as

encyclopaedias and anthologies which, by reason of the

selection and arrangement of their contents, constitute

intellectual creations shall be protected as such, without

prejudice to the copyright in each of the works forming

part of such collections.

(6)

The

works mentioned in this Article shall enjoy

protection in all countries of the Union. This protection

shall operate for the benefit of the author and his

successors in title.

(7)

Subject

to

the

provisions

of Article 7(4) of this

Convention, it shall be a matter for legislation in the

countries of the Union to determine the extent of the

application of their laws to works of applied art and

industrial designs and models, as well as the conditions

under which such works, designs and models shall be

protected. Works protected in the country of origin solely

as designs and models shall be entitled in another

country of the Union only to such special protection as is

granted in that country to designs and models; however,

if no such special protection is granted in that country,

such works shall be protected as artistic works.

(8) The protection of this Convention shall not apply to

news of the day or to miscellaneous facts having the

character of mere items of press information.

ARTICLE 2bis

Possible Limitation of Protection of Certain Works : 1 .

Certain speeches ; 2 . Certain uses of lectures and

addresses ; 3 . Right to make collections of such works

(1) It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the

Union to exclude, wholly or in part, from the protection

provided by the preceding Article political speeches and

speeches delivered in the course of legal proceedings.

(2) It shall also be a matter for legislation in the countries

of the Union to determine the conditions under which

lectures, addresses and other works of the same nature

which are delivered in public may be reproduced by the

press, broadcast, communicated to the public by wire

and

made

the subject of public communication as

envisaged in Article 11bis(1) of this Convention, when such

use is justified by the informatory purpose.

(3) Nevertheless, the author shall enjoy the exclusive right

of making a collection of his works mentioned in the

preceding paragraphs.

ARTICLE 3

Criteria of Eligibility for Protection : 1 . Nationality of author,

place of publication of work ; 2 . Residence of author ; 3 .

"Published" works ; 4 . "Simultaneously published" works

(1) The protection of this Convention shall apply to:

(a) authors who are nationals of one of the countries of

the Union, for their works, whether published or not;

(b) authors who are not nationals of one of the countries

of the Union, for their works first published in one of

those countries, or simultaneously in a country outside

the Union and in a country of the Union. dctai

(2) Authors who are not nationals of one of the countries

of the Union but who have their habitual residence in one

of them shall, for the purposes of this Convention be

assimilated to nationals of that country.

(3)

The

expression

"published

works"

means

works

published with the consent of their authors, whatever

may be the means of manufacture of the copies, provided

that the availability of such copies has been such as to

satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public, having

regard to the nature of the work. The performance of a

dramatic,

dramatico-musical,

cinematographic

or

musical work, the public recitation of a literary work, the

communication by wire or the broadcasting of literary or

artistic works, the exhibition of a work of art and the

construction of a work of architecture shall not constitute

publication.

(4) A work shall be considered as having been published

simultaneously

in

several

countries

if

it

has

been

published in two or more countries within thirty days of

its first publication.

ARTICLE 4

Criteria of Eligibility for Protection of Cinematographic

Works, Works of Architecture and Certain Artistic Works

© Compiled by RGL

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