Talk:Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Berne Union is a very rarely used expression

I've just switched the "nicknames" around, as it's universally known as the Berne Convention (754,000 Google hits when coupled with the word copyright) and is only very rarely (seems to be by some U.S. authorities only) referred to as the Berne Union (646 Google hits, once you have removed references to the Swiss credit institution called Berne Union and the US school district with the same name). Thomas Blomberg 10:41, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Works on the internet

The article states:

As soon as a work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, its author is automatically entitled to all copyrights...

Is it worth clarifying how this applies to articles not recorded on a conventional medium, but hosted on a server and published to the internet? I presume the Berne Convention applies to such cases. --Chriswaterguy talk 22:06, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

I found World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty which addresses this, and I added a section explaining this. --Chriswaterguy talk 06:36, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The U.S.'s stance on Berne

U.S. copyright law says the following in regard to Berne. [quote] Effect of Berne Convention. No right or interest in a work eligible for protection under this title may be claimed by virtue of, or in reliance upon, the provisions of the Berne Convention, or the adherence of the United States thereto. Any rights in a work eligible for protection under this title that derive from this title, other Federal or State statutes, or the common law, shall not be expanded or reduced by virtue of, or in reliance upon, the provisions of the Berne Convention, or the adherence of the United States thereto. [/quote]

That statement says, that I can tell, that anything in Berne not specifically said in the actual U.S. code was unagreed to by the United States Congress. The implication, in my view, is that Berne only applies to U.S. citizens in as much as it is codified in U.S. law. (it doesn't matter if the president accepted it or not: it must be passed by both the president and Congress to become law).

This means for example, that translations of works such as for example, fan translations which do not actually distribute the work but instead offer a medium altering patch (like the IPS format used for ROMs and ISOs), may not constitute copyright infringement in the U.S.. Tcaudilllg (talk) 10:17, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Guyana

Accoarding to the map, Guyana hasn't signed up. But accoarding to the linked page of "List of parties to international copyright treaties" it signed up in 1994, which is right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.33.134.118 (talk) 09:55, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

The list is right. Tanzania was also missing on the map. I've updated the map, in a few hours, the caches should have the new version and it should show up on the page. Lupo 13:57, 17 June 2008 (UTC)