CONTENTS
WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?
Two experts explain the mysteries of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
SUPPORT FOR ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL FREEDOM
The former U.S. Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks suggests why it is in every country's interest to establish and maintain an effective intellectual property system.
A DEVELOPING COUNTRY'S PERSPECTIVE
Intellectual property rights, says a Ghanaian copyright official, galvanize domestic industry while retaining national culture, inventiveness, and creativity.
PROGRESS IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
Striking a blow against patent piracy is essential to the future of pharmaceutical research, says a former association executive.
A TRADE ASSOCIATION AT WORK
The representative of a book publishing association recounts her organization's efforts to enforce international copyright standards.
INTERNATIONAL POLICY AND ACCORDS
Here are the key multinational treaties and conventions that require member countries to provide intellectual property protection for the benefit of foreign nationals.
GLOSSARY
From assignment to World Trade Organization, an attorney defines some commonly used terms related to intellectual property rights.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
How to get in touch with U.S. government entities, international organizations, and other groups in the forefront of the intellectual property scene.
ADDITIONAL READINGS
IN BRIEF...
Fair Use
Copyright in an Electronic Age
The U.S. Patent System
The U.S. Special 301 Process
The World Intellectual Property Organization
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INTERNATIONAL POLICY AND ACCORDS
By Nisha M. Vora
Prior to the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Uruguay Round agreement that created the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and included the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), there was no single source
for intellectual property obligations or norms. TRIPS
incorporated by reference the following key treaties and
conventions administered by the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO): the Paris Convention for the Protection of
Industrial Property; the Berne Convention for the protection of
Literary and Artistic Works; the International Convention for the
Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms, and
Broadcasting Organizations (the Rome Convention); and the Treaty
on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits (IPIC
Treaty). This means that WTO members can use WTO dispute
mechanisms to enforce obligations found in these WIPO treaties
and conventions. In addition, the WTO TRIPS Agreement created new
enforcement obligations that represent an important step toward
accountability. Accordingly, the TRIPS Agreement, for the first
time, provided minimum norms for intellectual property protection
that applied across the board for all WTO members. Although the
WTO Secretariat administers the TRIPS Agreement through the TRIPS
Council, the underlying treaties are still administerd by the
World Intellectual Property Organization.
Since the adoption of TRIPS, there have been two new WIPO
treaties of note: at the end of 1996, WIPO member states adopted
two new treaties to provide protection, respectively, to
copyrighted works (the WIPO Copyright Treaty) and to performances
and phonograms (the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty), to
deal with emerging issues related to digital transmission of
these copyrighted works.
The complete text of the TRIPS Agreement, as well as an
explanation of its provisions in layperson's terms, is provided
on the WTO Web site at http://www.wto.org. The complete text of
all of the WIPO treaties and a list of signatories are contained
on the WIPO home page at http://www.wipo.int.
General
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (1994) (Administered by the World Trade Organization)
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS) was concluded at the end of 1994 as part of the
Uruguay Round multilateral trade agreement. It provides for
establishment of standards for protection of a full range of
intellectual property rights and the enforcement of those
standards both internally and at the border through legal and
administrative actions.
The intellectual property rights covered by the TRIPS
Agreement are: copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial
designs, trade secrets (undisclosed information), integrated
circuits (semiconductors), and geographical indications.
Following are highlights of the provisions.
In the area of copyrights, TRIPS:
Obligates signatories to comply with provisions of the
Berne Convention, except for that convention's requirements on
moral rights;
Protects computer programs as literary works and databases
as compilations under copyright.
Imposes an immediate obligation on signatories to grant
owners of computer programs and sound recordings the right to
authorize or prohibit the rental of their products.
Establishes a 50-year term for protection of sound
recordings, as well as requiring signatories to provide
protection for existing sound recordings.
Sets a minimum 50-year term for protection of motion
pictures and other works where companies may be the author.
In the area of patents, TRIPS:
Obligates signatories to protect product and process
patents for virtually all types of inventions, including
pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals;
Establishes a patent term of 20 years from the date the
application is filed;
Requires prompt implementation of procedures to permit the
filing of patent applications covering pharmaceuticals and
agricultural chemicals upon entry into force of the agreement
even in members that lack product patent protection.
Sets limits on the use of compulsory licensing, a method
by which a government can compel a patent holder to license the
patent to someone else.
In the area of trademarks, TRIPS:
Requires signatories to register service marks as well as
trademarks.
Provides protection for internationally well-known marks.
Prohibits the mandatory linking of trademarks.
Prohibits the compulsory licensing of marks.
In other areas, TRIPS provides rules for protecting:
Trade secrets that enable owners to prevent unauthorized
use or disclosure of confidential information.
Integrated circuits that eliminate the deficiencies of the
1989 Washington Treaty, by lengthening the term of protection
from a minimum of eight years to a minimum of 10 years.
Industrial designs consistent with existing U.S. laws.
Nongeneric geographical indications used to identify wines
and spirits.
Enforcement Requirements
In general, members are required to provide expeditious, fair,
and equitable remedies that create a deterrent to further
infringements. Written decisions on the merits should be provided
to parties, and there should be an opportunity for judicial
review of final administrative decisions.
Injunctive relief and other effective provisional measures
should be available through the judiciary.
Adequate damages should be available, which may include
expenses to rightholder (including possible attorneys' fees);
recovery of profits or payment of statutory damages is also
permissible. The judiciary should have authority to provide other
remedies, such as disposal of infringing goods, and should also
have the authority to order the applicant to indemnify the
accused party to make up any losses suffered due to abuse of
enforcement procedures.
Border measures, including suspension of release by customs
authorities, indemnification of the importer and owner of the
goods, and a right of inspection, shall be provided by members.
Criminal procedures and penalties must be available for use at
least in cases of willful trademark and copyright infringement
committed on a commercial scale.
Industrialized countries were given one year for
implementation from the entry into force of the TRIPS accord,
July 1, 1995. Developing countries and those shifting from
centrally planned to market economies generally were given four
additional years for implementation. However, these countries
have another five years (for a total of nine additional years)
for implementation in the pharmaceutical and agricultural
chemicals sectors if such protection is currently unavailable.
Least-developed countries have until 2006 to comply.
Although developing countries were given a long transition
period, they were required, at the end of the one-year transition
period afforded all countries, to provide for national treatment
(equal treatment for domestic and foreign parties) and
most-favored-nation treatment (equal treatment for all
participating trading partners).
The Uruguay Round agreement created the World Trade
Organization (WTO) to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT). The WTO is facilitating the implementation and
administration of the agreement.
Unlike the GATT system, the WTO integrates all the dispute
settlement procedures established under individual agreements
(goods, services, TRIPS). Disputes involving TRIPS are handled by
the WTO General Council, acting as the Dispute Settlement Body.
If a dispute settlement panel finds inadequate IPR
protection or enforcement in a member country, the signatory
bringing the complaint has the right to retaliate in other
sectors.
Treaties in the Field of Industrial Property
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883)
(Administered by WIPO)
The Paris Convention applies to industrial property in the widest
sense, including inventions, marks, industrial designs, utility
models, trade names, geographical indications, and the repression
of unfair competition.
The substantive provisions of the convention fall into three
main categories: national treatment, right of priority, common
rules.
Under the provisions on national treatment, the convention
provides that, as regards industrial property, each contracting
state must grant the same protection to nationals of the other
contracting states as it grants to its own nationals. Nationals
of noncontracting states are also protected by the convention if
they are domiciled or have a real and effective industrial or
commercial establishment in a contracting state.
The convention provides for the right of priority in the
case of patents (and utility models, where they exist), marks,
and industrial designs. This right means that, on the basis of a
regular first application filed in one of the contracting states,
the applicant may, within a certain period of time, apply for
protection in any of the other contracting states; these later
applications are then regarded as if they had been filed on the
same day as the first application.
The convention lays down a few common rules that all the
contracting states must follow. Among them:
As to patents:
- Patents granted in different contracting states for
the same invention are independent of each other; the granting of
a patent in one contracting state does not oblige the other
contracting states to grant a patent.
- The inventor has the right to be named as such in the
patent.
As to marks:
- The convention does not regulate the conditions for
the filing and registration of marks, which are therefore
determined in each contracting state by the domestic law.
- Where a mark has been duly registered in the country
of origin, it must, on request, be accepted for filing and
protected in its original form in the other contracting states.
Nevertheless, registration may be refused in well-defined cases.
- If, in any contracting state, the use of a registered
mark is compulsory, the registration can be canceled only after a
reasonable period and only if the owner cannot justify his
inaction.
- Collective marks must be granted protection.
Industrial designs must be protected in each contracting
state, and protection may not be forfeited on the ground that the
articles incorporating the design are not manufactured in that
state.
Protection must be given to trade names in each
contracting state without the obligation of filing or
registration.
Measures must be taken by each contracting state against
direct or indirect use of a false indication of the source of the
goods or the identity of the producer, manufacturer, or trader.
Each contracting state must provide for effective
protection against unfair competition.
Madrid Agreement for the Repression of False or Deceptive
Indications of Source on Goods (1891)
(Administered by WIPO)
According to the Madrid Agreement, all goods bearing a false or
deceptive indication of source, by which one of the contracting
states or a place situated therein is directly or indirectly
indicated as being the country or place of origin, must be seized
on importation, or such importation must be prohibited, or other
actions and sanctions must be applied in connection with such
importation.
The agreement provides for the cases and the manner in which
seizure may be requested and effected. It prohibits the use, in
connection with the sale or display or offering for sale of any
goods, of all indications in the nature of publicity capable of
deceiving the public as to the source of the goods. It is
reserved to the courts of each contracting state to decide what
appellations do not, on account of their generic character, come
within the scope of the agreement.
Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of
Marks (1891)
(Administered by WIPO)
The Madrid Agreement provides for the international registration
of marks (both trademarks and service marks) at the International
Bureau of WIPO in Geneva. Registrations effected under the
agreement are called international as every registration has
effect in several countries, potentially in all the contracting
states (except the country of origin).
To enjoy the advantages of the agreement, the applicant must
be a national of a contracting state or must be domiciled or have
a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in a
contracting state. He or she must first have his mark registered
in the national or regional (Benelux) trademark office of the
country of origin. Once this is done, he may apply, through that
national or regional office, for international registration.
The international registration, once effected, is published
by the International Bureau and notified to the contracting
states (or, in the case of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the
Netherlands, the Benelux Trademark Office) in which the applicant
seeks protection. Each such state (or the Benelux Office) may,
within one year, declare with an indication of the grounds for
its decision that protection cannot be granted to the mark in
its territory. If such a declaration is made, the procedure
continues in the refusing national or regional office or before
the courts of the contracting state concerned. If such a
declaration is not made within the period of one year, the
international registration has the effect of a national (or
regional) registration.
Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of
Industrial Designs (1925)
(Administered by WIPO)
The international deposit of an industrial design may be made at
the International Bureau of WIPO either directly or through the
intermediary of the national industrial property office of the
contracting state that is the country of origin if the law of
that state so permits. The domestic law of any contracting state
may require that the international deposit be made through the
intermediary of its national office.
The international deposit has, in each of the contracting
states designated by the applicant, the same effect as if all the
formalities required by the domestic law for the grant of
protection had been complied with by the applicant and as if all
administrative acts required to that end had been accomplished by
the office of that state (or by the Benelux Designs Office, as
the case may be).
The international deposit may extend its effects to the
contracting state that is the country of origin (if that state is
designated by the applicant), unless the legislation of that
state provides otherwise.
An international deposit may be renewed every five years.
The term of protection cannot be less than five years, or 10
years if renewed during the last year of the first five-year
period.
Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of
Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks
(1957)
(Administered by WIPO)
The Nice Agreement establishes a classification of goods and
services for the purposes of registering trademarks and service
marks. The trademark offices of the contracting states must
indicate, in connection with each registration, the symbols of
the classes.
The classification consists of a list of classes there
are 34 classes for goods and eight for services and an
alphabetical list of the goods and services. The latter comprises
some 11,000 items. Both lists are, from time to time, amended and
supplemented by a committee of experts on which all contracting
states are represented.
Although only 58 states are party to the Nice Agreement, the
trademark offices of more than 140 states, as well as the
International Bureau of WIPO, the Benelux Trademark Office, the
African Intellectual Property Organization, and the Office for
Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) of
the European Communities, actually use the classification.
Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and
Their International Registration (1958)
(Administered by WIPO)
The aim of the Lisbon Agreement is to provide for the protection
of appellations of origin, that is, the geographical name of a
country, region, or locality, which serves to designate a product
originating therein, the quality and characteristics of which are
due exclusively or essentially to the geographic environment,
including natural and human factors (Article 2). Such names are
registered by the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva upon the
request of the competent authorities of the interested
contracting state. The International Bureau communicates the
registration to the other contracting states. Except for a
contracting state that declares, within one year, that it cannot
ensure the protection of a registered name, all contracting
states must protect the internationally registered name as long
as it continues to be protected in the country of origin.
Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification
for Industrial Designs (1968)
(Administered by WIPO)
The Locarno Agreement establishes a classification for industrial
designs. The competent offices of the contracting states must
indicate in the official documents reflecting the deposit or
registration of industrial designs the appropriate symbols of the
classification. They must do the same in any publication that the
offices issue in respect of the deposit or registration.
A committee of experts, on which all contracting states are
represented, set up under the agreement, is entrusted with the
task of periodic revision of the classification.
The classification consists of 32 classes and 223
subclasses. It also comprises an alphabetical list of goods with
an indication of the classes and subclasses into which these
goods fall. The list contains some 6,320 indications of different
kinds of goods.
Although only 35 states are party to the Locarno Agreement,
the industrial property offices of some other states apply the
classification. The classification is also applied by the
International Bureau of WIPO in the administration of the Hague
Agreement and by the Benelux Designs Office.
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) (1970)
(Administered by WIPO)
The PCT makes it possible to seek patent protection for an
invention simultaneously in each of a large number of countries
by filing an international patent application. Such an
application may be filed by anyone who is a national or resident
of a contracting state. It may generally be filed with the
national patent office of the contracting state of which the
applicant is a national or resident or with the International
Bureau of WIPO in Geneva. If the applicant is a national or
resident of a contracting state that is party to the European
Patent Convention, the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial
Designs, or the Eurasian Patent Convention, the international
application may also be filed with the European Patent Office
(EPO), the African Regional Industrial Property Organization
(ARIPO), or the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO), respectively.
The treaty regulates in detail the formal requirements that
any international application must comply with.
Among all the contracting states, the applicant indicates
those in which he or she wishes the international application to
have effect. The effect of the international application in each
designated state is the same as if a national patent application
had been filed with the national patent office of that state.
The international application is then subjected to what is
called an international search that is carried out by one of
the major patent offices. The said search results in an
international search report that lists the citations of such
published documents that might affect the patentability of the
invention claimed in the international application.
Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent
Classification (1971)
(Administered by WIPO)
The Strasbourg Agreement establishes the International Patent
Classification (IPC), which divides technology into eight
sections with approximately 67,000 subdivisions. Each subdivision
has a symbol consisting of Arabic numerals and letters of the
Latin alphabet.
The appropriate IPC symbols are indicated on each patent
document (published patent applications and granted patents), of
which about 1 million were issued each year in the last 10 years
or so. The appropriate symbols are allotted by the national or
regional industrial property office that publishes the patent
document.
Although only 41 states are party to the agreement, the
patent offices of more than 80 states, four regional offices, and
the International Bureau of WIPO under the Patent Cooperation
Treaty (PCT) actually use the IPC.
Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of
the Figurative Elements of Marks (1973)
(Administered by WIPO)
The agreement establishes a classification for marks that consist
of or contain figurative elements. The competent offices of the
contracting states must indicate in the official documents and
publications relating to registrations and renewals of marks the
appropriate symbols of the classification.
A committee of experts, on which all contracting states are
represented, is entrusted with the task of periodic revision of
the classification.
The classification consists of 29 categories, 144 divisions,
and 1,796 sections in which the figurative elements of marks are
classified.
Although only 13 states are party to the Vienna Agreement,
the classification is used by the industrial property offices of
at least 30 states, as well as by the International Bureau of
WIPO, the Benelux Trademark Office, and the Office for
Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) of
the European Communities.
European Patent Convention (1973)
(Administered by the European Patent Office)
The European Patent Convention (EPC) created the European
Patent Office (EPO), which is based in Munich, Germany. The
convention currently applies to most European Community member
states and to several other European countries. (EPO membership
is not open to the United States, but close relations are
maintained through the U.S. Commerce Department's Patent and
Trademark Office.) The EPC provides for a single application
in English, German, or French on which a central search and
examination is carried out. Once the patent is accepted for grant
and the appropriate fees and translations have been submitted,
the single application is converted into a bundle of individual
national patents. The system also allows an opposition to the
grant to be lodged at the EPO within nine months from patent
grant. Subsequent issues of validity, however, must be dealt with
on a country-by-country basis by individual national courts.
Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol (1981)
(Administered by WIPO)
All states that are party to the treaty are under the obligation
to protect the Olympic symbol five interlaced rings against
use for commercial purposes without the authorization of the
International Olympic Committee. The treaty also provides that,
whenever a license fee is paid to the International Olympic
Committee for its authorization to use the Olympic symbol for
commercial purposes, part of the revenue must go to the
interested national Olympic committees.
Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit
of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (1977)
(Administered by WIPO)
Disclosure of the invention is a requirement for the grant of
patents. Normally, an invention is disclosed by means of a
written description. Where an invention involves a microorganism
or the use of a microorganism, disclosure is not possible in
writing but can be effected only by the deposit, with a
specialized institution, of a sample of the microorganism.
To eliminate the need to deposit in each country in which
protection is sought, the Budapest Treaty provides that the
deposit of a microorganism with any international depositary
authority suffices for the purposes of patent procedure before
the national patent offices of all of the contracting states and
before any regional patent office (if such a regional office
declares that it recognizes the effects of the treaty).
What the treaty calls an international depositary
authority is a scientific institution typically a culture
collection that is capable of storing microorganisms. Such an
institution acquires the status of international depositary
authority through the furnishing by the contracting state in the
territory of which it is located of assurances to the Director
General of WIPO to the effect that the institution complies with
certain requirements of the treaty.
The treaty is primarily advantageous to the depositor if he
or she is an applicant for patents in several contracting states;
the deposit of a microorganism under the procedures provided for
in the treaty will save the depositor money and increase the
security of the patent application.
Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the
International Registration of Marks (1989)
(Administered by WIPO)
The Madrid Protocol was adopted to introduce certain new features
into the system of the international registration of marks (as
existing under the Madrid Agreement). The new features remove the
difficulties that are preventing certain countries from adhering
to the Madrid Agreement. The Madrid Protocol operates in a
complementary way with the Madrid Agreement.
As compared with the Madrid Agreement, the protocol
introduces the following main innovations:
The applicant may base his or her application for
international registration not only on the registration of his
mark in the national (or regional) office of origin but also on
an application for national (or regional) registration filed with
that office.
Each contracting party in which the applicant seeks
protection may, within 18 months (instead of one year), and an
even longer period in the case of opposition, declare that
protection cannot be granted to the mark in its territory.
The office of each contracting party may receive higher
fees than under the Madrid Agreement.
An international registration that is canceled at the
request of the office of origin may be transformed into national
(or regional) applications benefiting from its filing date and,
where applicable, priority date.
Furthermore, the protocol establishes links with the
trademark system of the European Communities.
Finally, applications governed by the protocol can be filed
not only in French but also in English.
Washington Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of
Integrated Circuits (1989)
(Administered by WIPO)
Although the treaty is not yet in force, it has been incorporated
by reference in the TRIPS Agreement of the World Trade
Organization (WTO), subject to several modifications.
Under the treaty, each contracting party is obliged to
secure, throughout its territory, intellectual property
protection of original layout-designs (topographies) of
integrated circuits, whether or not the integrated circuit
concerned is incorporated in an article.
Each contracting party must accord the same treatment to
natural persons and legal entities of other contracting parties
as it accords to its own nationals.
The contracting parties must, at a minimum, consider the
following acts to be unlawful if performed without the
authorization of the holder of the right: the reproduction of the
layout-design, and the importation, sale, or other distribution
for commercial purposes of the layout-design or an integrated
circuit in which the layout-design is incorporated.
Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) (1994)
(Administered by WIPO)
The aim of the TLT is to make national and regional trademark
registration systems more user friendly. This is achieved through
the simplification and harmonization of procedures and through
removing pitfalls, thus making the procedure safe for the owners
of marks and their representatives.
The great majority of the provisions of the TLT concern the
procedure before the trademark registry, which can be divided
into three main phases: application for registration, changes
after registration, and renewal. The rules concerning each phase
are so constructed as to make clear what a trademark office can
require and what that office cannot require from the applicant or
the owner.
Treaties in the Field of Copyright and Neighboring Rights
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic
Works (1886)
(Administered by WIPO)
The Berne Convention rests 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 are the following:
Works originating in one of the contracting states must be
given the same protection in each of the other contracting states
as the latter grants to the works of its own nationals.
Such protection must not be conditional upon compliance
with any formality.
Such protection is independent of the existence of
protection in the country of origin of the work. If, however, a
contracting state provides for a longer term 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.
As to works, the protection must include every production
in the literary, scientific, and artistic domain, whatever may be
the mode or form of its expression (Article 2(1)). The
following are among the rights that must be recognized as
exclusive rights of authorization: the rights to translate; to
make adaptations and arrangements of the work; to perform in
public dramatic, dramatico-musical, and musical works; to recite
in public literary works; to communicate to the public the
performance of such works; to broadcast; to make reproduction in
any manner or form; to use the work as a basis for an audiovisual
work; and to reproduce, distribute, perform in public, or
communicate to the public that audiovisual work.
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 or 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.
Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of
Phonograms, and Broadcasting Organizations (1961)
[Administered jointly by WIPO, the International Labour
Organization (ILO), and the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)]
The Rome Convention secures protection in performances of
performers, phonograms of producers of phonograms, and broadcasts
of broadcasting organizations.
Performers (actors, singers, musicians, dancers, and other
persons who perform literary or artistic works) are protected
against certain acts they have not consented to. Such acts are:
the broadcasting and communication to the public of their live
performance; the fixation of their live performance; the
reproduction of such a fixation if the original fixation was made
without their consent or if the reproduction is made for purposes
different from those for which they gave their consent.
Producers of phonograms enjoy the right to authorize or
prohibit the direct or indirect reproduction of their phonograms.
Broadcasting organizations enjoy the right to authorize or
prohibit certain acts, namely: the rebroadcasting of their
broadcasts; the fixation of their broadcasts; the reproduction of
such fixations; the communication to the public of their
television broadcasts if such communication is made in places
accessible to the public against payment of an entrance fee.
Geneva Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms
Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms (1971)
(Administered by WIPO in cooperation with the ILO and UNESCO)
The Geneva Convention provides for the obligation of each
contracting state to protect a producer of phonograms who is a
national of another contracting state against making duplicates
without the consent of the producer, against the importation of
such duplicates, where the making or importation is for the
purposes of distribution to the public, and against the
distribution of such duplicates to the public. Protection may be
provided as a matter of copyright law, sui generis (neighboring
rights) law, unfair competition law, or penal law. Protection
must last for at least 20 years from the first fixation or the
first publication of the phonogram.
Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of
Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite (1974)
The Brussels Convention provides for the obligation of each
contracting state to take adequate measures to prevent the
unauthorized distribution on or from its territory of any
program-carrying signal transmitted by satellite. The
distribution is unauthorized if it has not been authorized by the
organization typically a broadcasting organization that has
decided what the program consists of. The obligation exists in
respect of organizations that are nationals of a contracting
state.
The provisions of this convention are not applicable,
however, where the distribution of signals is made from a direct
broadcasting satellite.
WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) (1996)
This treaty was concluded in Geneva on December 20, 1996. It is
awaiting ratification.
Any contracting party (even if it is not bound by the Berne
Convention) must comply with the substantive provisions of the
1971 (Paris) Act of the Berne Convention.
As to the subject matters to be protected by copyright, the
treaty mentions two: (1) computer programs, whatever may be the
mode or form of their expression, and (2) compilations of data or
other material (databases), in any form, which by reason of the
selection or arrangement of their contents constitute
intellectual creations.
As to the rights of authors, the treaty deals with three:
(1) the right of distribution, (2) the right of rental, and (3)
the right of communication to the public. Each of them is an
exclusive right, subject to certain limitations and exceptions.
The treaty obliges the contracting parties to provide legal
remedies against the circumvention of technological measures
(e.g., encryption) used by authors in connection with the
exercise of their rights and against the removal or altering of
information, such as certain data that identify the work or
their authors, necessary for the management (e.g., licensing,
collecting, and distribution of royalties) of their rights
(rights management information).
The treaty obliges each contracting party to adopt, in
accordance with its legal system, the measures necessary to
ensure the application of the treaty. In particular, the
contracting party must ensure that enforcement procedures are
available under its law so as to permit effective action against
any act of infringement of rights covered by the treaty. Such
action must include expeditious remedies to prevent infringement
and remedies that constitute a deterrent to further
infringements.
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) (1996)
This treaty was concluded on December 20, 1996. It is awaiting
ratification.
This treaty deals with intellectual property rights of two
kinds of beneficiaries: (1) performers (actors, singers,
musicians, etc.), and (2) producers of phonograms (the persons or
legal entities who or which take the initiative and have the
responsibility for the fixation of the sounds).
As far as performers are concerned, the treaty grants
performers four kinds of economic rights in their performances
fixed in phonograms: (1) the right of reproduction, (2) the right
of distribution, (3) the right of rental, and (4) the right of
making available. Each of them is an exclusive right, subject to
certain limitations and exceptions.
The treaty grants three kinds of economic rights to
performers in respect of their unfixed (live) performances: (1)
the right of broadcasting (except in the case of rebroadcasting),
(2) the right of communication to the public (except where the
performance is a broadcast performance), and (3) the right of
fixation.
The treaty also grants performers moral rights: the right to
claim to be identified as the performer and the right to object
to any distortion, mutilation, or other modification that would
be prejudicial to the performer's reputation.
As far as producers of phonograms are concerned, the treaty
grants them four kinds of rights (all economic) in their
phonograms: (1) the right of reproduction, (2) the right of
distribution, (3) the right of rental, and (4) the right of
making available. Each of them is an exclusive right, subject to
certain limitations and exceptions.
As far as both performers and phonogram producers are
concerned, the treaty obliges each contracting party to accord to
nationals of the other contracting parties with regard to the
rights specifically granted in the treaty the treatment it
accords to its own nationals.
Furthermore, the treaty provides that performers and
producers of phonograms enjoy the right to a single equitable
remuneration for the direct or indirect use of phonograms,
published for commercial purposes, for broadcasting, or for
communication to the public.
The term of protection must be at least 50 years.
SIDEBAR: The World Intellectual Property Organization
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