Modern Copyright Law
Modern copyright law, as well as other intellectual property right regulations, is set by several international organizations. The two principal organizations involved in crafting copyright standards are the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). A number of countries are particularly invested in seeing these standards codified and enforced--most of all the United States--and make extra efforts to see that other countries follow through on implementing and enforcing WIPO and WTO standards.
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WIPO
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WIPÓ is an agency of the United Nations that was established in 1967, "developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property system." WIPO operates using the rules set out by the 1967 Convention, and its member states (which are most of the states in the UN) meet in assemblies, committees and working groups to discuss WIPO actions and regulations.
Conventions
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WIPO member countries send delegates to WIPO assemblies, in which the delegates discuss and update existing agreements and create new standards and suggested legislation in response to new IPR issues. As of 2010, existing WIPO agreements included the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Nice Agreement (establishing classifications and procedures for registering trademarks) and Paris Convention (establishing norms and protections for industrial patents).
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WTO
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The WTO is concerned with "the rules of trade between nations at a global level," and frequently takes on IPR challenges and issues. The WTO's main tool in dealing with IPR issues is the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement. TRIPS was introduced during the Uruguay round of trade talks (1986 to 1994) and incorporated intellectual property rights into the resulting WTO agreement.
Supplemental Laws
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In addition to signing WIPO conventions (which are legally binding) and enforcing TRIPS, most countries have comprehensive national copyright laws (along with trademark laws and patent laws) that specifically codify and elaborate on international norms. Many countries also have additional laws dealing with specific copyright infringement issues; for example, Thailand passed the Optical Disc Manufacturing Control Bill in 2005, which specifically targets factories producing CDs and DVDs without licenses from the companies that own the copyrights.
U.S. Intervention
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U.S. companies lose hundreds of millions of dollars in profits each year due to copyright infringement, and the U.S. government uses its influence internationally to enforce copyright laws and limit these losses. The United States uses its influence in such organizations as the WIPO and especially the WTO to pass tougher laws, and uses bilateral diplomacy to pressure individual countries to pass stronger legislation, beef up law enforcement and crack down on violators.
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References
- Photo Credit black copyright symbol image by Angie Chauvin from Fotolia.com
