Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
n.an international treaty providing minimum protections for the copyright of works created in participating nationsMaher 2001, 72–73Furthermore, regardless of what conditions we may believe are supported by U.S. constitutional provisions of copyright, in the global economy, international treaties, such as the Berne Convention, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), or even agreements within a body such as the European Union seem to overshadow national laws. Thus, U.S. copyright law is subject to rewriting according to those international agreements made by large players, often heavily represented by global content providers interested in designing intellectual property laws to protect their investments rather than to encourage broad dissemination or the promotion of science and the useful arts.Cloonan and Sanett 2002, 90Further, there must be a legal environment that enables the preservation of digital information. Yet laws may vary. For example there are significant differences between the Berne Convention (an international copyright treaty) and United States copyright law. These types of discrepancies may impede the development of consistent, rational public policy.Behrnd-Klodt 2008, 207The Berne Convention establishes minimum standards and reciprocal recognition and enforcement of copyright protection. Congress then passed the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 (BCIA) to harmonize U.S. copyright law with international law, in particular, to eliminate many U.S. copyright formalities such as the requirement of placing a copyright notice on works.
Notes
Commonly referred to as the Berne Convention, the treaty was drawn up in Bern, Switzerland, in 1886 and is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The United States became a signatory nation in 1989, modifying some of its laws to comply with the treaty’s terms.
