Copyright Law
Copyright law grants authors, composers, computer programmers, website designers, and other creators legal protection for their work. These works can be literary, artistic, dramatic, and other types of creations. It protects a wide variety of original works, such as books, magazines, newspapers, music, paintings, photographs, sculptures, architecture, films, computer programs, video games, and original databases.
Related Rights
Related rights, also known as neighboring rights, are a specific category of rights held by certain individuals or businesses. These rights are crucial for those in performing, communicating, or sharing content with the public. This is regardless of whether copyright protects that content.
In many countries influenced by civil law traditions, related rights function as a distinct area of law related to copyright but separate from it. Conversely, in countries with common law traditions, some or all of these rights are considered part of copyright law.
Understanding related rights is important for anyone involved in the creation and distribution of content. All in all they safeguard the contributions of performers, producers, and broadcasters in the creative ecosystem.
Traditionally, at least three categories of related rights owners have been recognized:
- performers (e.g., actors, musicians);
- producers of sound recordings, and
- broadcasting organizations.
The copyright system balances different interests by rewarding authors of original works with limited exclusive rights for their intellectual effort. It does so while allowing public access to the work to promote science, culture, and the arts. Copyright law gives an author or creator of a work a diverse bundle of exclusive rights for a specific time. These rights enable the author to control the economic use of their work in several ways and to receive payment. Copyright law also provides “moral rights,” which protect, among other things, an author’s reputation and integrity.
Copyright law provides a species of property that third parties may get the assignment or license. In most countries, where an employee creates a copyrighted work during their employment, the employer is the first owner of the copyright in that work.
International Sources of Law
Berne Convention
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886) protects works and the rights of their authors. It allows creators such as authors, musicians, poets, and painters to control on what terms others use their work.
The Berne Convention is based on three broad principles.
- The principle of national treatment provides that 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.
- The principle of automatic protection provides that protection must not be conditional upon compliance with any formality.
- The principle of independence of protection provides that protection is independent of the protection in the work’s country of origin.
The Convention also contains a series of provisions determining the minimum protection standards for works and rights and the duration of protection.
- Economic rights – Subject to certain allowed reservations, limitations, or exceptions, the economic rights that must be recognized as exclusive rights of authorization include the right of:
– translation of a work;
– reproduction of a work in any manner or form;
– public performance or recitation of a work and communication of such performance or recitation to the public;
– broadcasting, or other wireless communication, of a work to the public;
– adaptation and arrangement of a work;
– cinematographic adaptation and reproduction of work and distribution, as well as public performance or communication to the public by wire thereof; and
– in some countries, receiving an interest in resale of specific works.
More on Berne Convention
- Free uses—The Convention requires or allows certain limitations and exceptions to these rights. It allows certain circumstances in which one may use the protected works without the authorization of the copyright owner and without payment of compensation. These limitations and exceptions are commonly referred to as the free uses of protected works.
- Moral rights – The Convention also provides the right to claim authorship of the work and object to any mutilation, deformation, or other modification of or other derogatory action about the work that would be prejudicial to the author’s honor or reputation.
The Convention also makes special provisions relating to the translation and reproduction of works concerning educational activities available to developing countries.
Rome Convention
The International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961), known as the Rome Convention, extends protection to related rights:
- performing artists enjoy rights over their performances;
- producers of phonograms, over their sound recordings, and
- radio and television organizations, over their broadcast programs.
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (1994) binds WTO Member States to further general rules and obligations for intellectual property rights. With respect to each area of intellectual property rights, the TRIPS Agreement defines the protected subject matter. Additionally, it also defines the conferred rights permissible exceptions to those rights, and the minimum duration of protection. In addition, it elevates the minimum protection each country has to provide to the nationals of other member countries.
TRIPS Agreement
Regarding copyright, the TRIPS Agreement incorporates the protections of the Berne Convention for all WTO Members. In addition to requiring compliance with the basic standards of the Berne Convention, the TRIPS Agreement clarifies and adds certain specific points – namely, it:
- confirms that copyright protection shall extend to expressions and not to ideas, procedures, methods of operation, or mathematical concepts as such;
- provides to protect the computer programs, whether in source or object code, as literary works. Also, the form of the program, whether in source or object code, does not affect the protection;
- clarifies the protection due to databases and other compilations of data or other material;
- sets a minimum term of protection. This is applicable whenever one calculates the term of protection of a work on a basis other than the life of a natural person
- requires that only special cases have limitations or exceptions to exclusive rights. This should not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the right owner.
WIPO Internet Treaties
The WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (1996) are the WCT and WPPT respectively. Collectively the WIPO Internet Treaties refers to these two treaties. These are international norms that prevent unauthorized access to and use of creative works on the Internet or other digital networks.
- The WCT protects authors of literary and artistic works, including computer programs and original databases.
- The WPPT deals with the rights of performers and producers of phonograms.
The two treaties update and supplement the major existing WIPO treaties on copyright and related rights, primarily to respond to developments in technology and the marketplace.
The WIPO Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances (2012) addressed the rights of audiovisual performers in the international copyright framework by extending the economic and moral rights of actors and performers in audiovisual performances, including films, videos, and television programs.
The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled (2013) is the latest addition to the body of international copyright treaties administered by WIPO. It has a precise humanitarian and social development dimension, and its main goal is to create a set of mandatory limitations and exceptions for the benefit of persons who are blind, visually impaired, and otherwise print-disabled.
A large number of countries are contracting parties to several critical international treaties that have helped to harmonize, to a considerable extent, the level of copyright and related rights protection among countries. However, there are essential differences in obtaining protection for work under the national laws of different countries.
This article was prepared from the WIPO manual and can be downloaded here
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