International Copyright Law & Policy

While different countries have different copyright laws, several international agreements have been drafted to protect intellectual property.

While there is no single international copyright law, many countries have agreed to international rules for protecting intellectual property from copyright infringement, piracy and counterfeiting. The Berne Agreement, the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Property Rights, and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement outline copyright laws that should be enforced in all nations that are party to the agreements.

The Berne Agreement

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic works is an agreement that outlines copyright laws for every country that is a part of the union, which include the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Korea and dozens of others. The Berne Agreement states that authors of artistic works who reside in any country in the union are protected under the agreement's copyright protection laws. Artistic works include literary works, musical compositions, phonograms, motion pictures, sculptures and others.

Author's Rights Under the Berne Agreement

In addition to protecting works from copyright infringement, the Berne Agreement states that authors of artistic works have creative license over what they do with their copyrighted works. Authors may reproduce their works and approve their works for translations, adaptations, performances and media communications. An author also has the right to claim ownership of his work of art and to refuse for his work to be altered in a way that may damage his reputation.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was drafted in response to the increasing concerns over the counterfeiting and piracy of intellectual property. Parties to this agreement include Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the European Union, the United States, Morocco, New Zealand and Singapore. The agreement outlines actions that countries will take in prosecuting copyright infringement, including forcing a counterfeiter to pay damages to the author, as well as attorney's fees incurred as a result of the infringement. The trade agreement also provides measures for prosecuting individuals who use technology, particularly the Internet, to distribute stolen intellectual property.

Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectural Property Rights (TRIPS)

This agreement drafted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) seeks to protect intellectual property while, at the same time, preventing the protection of intellectual property from impeding the process of trade. The WTO defines intellectual property in much the same way as the Berne Agreement but they have added computer programs and data to the list of protected works. The agreement also protects authors under rental rights, in which authors must give permission for their works to be distributed in rental form. Under this agreement, authors are protected for a period of 50 years after the time of publication of a work of intellectual property if their country does not already protect their works for the duration of their lives.

Registering a Work of Art

Registering a work of art as intellectual property differs from country to country. Typically, an author/creator must fill out a registration form and pay a filing fee at their country's copyright office. Most countries protect an author's intellectual property for the duration of his life and often many years beyond.

References

• UK Copyright Service: The Berne Convention
• Foreign Affiars and International Trade Canada: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
• World Trade Organization: TRIPS--Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectural Property Rights

Resources

• World Intellectual Property Organization: Collection of Laws for Electronic Access