subscribe to this page
This business week article written at the time when the United States joined the Berne Convention for international copyright protection summarizes changes the US took to join the member states. The United States resisted joining the convention for over 100 years, however in the 1980s, trends of globalization and advances in technology made the convention much more necessary to international commerce.
Starting in 1983, the Congress of the United States began enacting laws designed to protect intellectual property in attempts to move towards the criteria of the Berne Convention of 1886. Efforts to join the convention came out of a recent desire to join the states in hopes of further protecting US intellectual property internationally.
As the article states, the 14 laws that Congress enacted from 1983 to 1988 greatly increased the number of lawsuits claiming copyright infringement by sixty percent. Many feel that this is quite out of hand and that the “pendulum may swing too far.” The author of the article claims that up until 1980, copyright infringers had the upper hand whereas these laws passed to meet the criteria of the Berne Convention give copyright holders extreme power.
Nearly two decades after this was written, we see that projections were accurate in that copyright infringement suites are at an all time high, however we also see many positive features of the 1980s legislation as well. International copyright protection is being enforced at an increasingly sufficient level and the advancement of US intellectual property has not been visibly hindered.
With regard to my thesis, this work shows how Congress enacted laws to approach the world community with regard to copyright. With greater restrictions, all US companies had to observe applicable copyright law. However, these laws also set a guideline for what could and what could not be legally done. Since these laws have been enacted, we have seen an increase in the globalization of Hollywood and an expansion of foreign markets distribution, foreign investment in US films, and foreign remakes produced by Hollywood all for the benefit of both the US and global community.
The Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works;Berne, Switzerland, September 9, 1886.
The Berne Convention first met in Switzerland in 1886. The latest version of this convention was amended on September 28th, 1979.The treaty contains 38 articles defining protection and rights for forms of intellectual property. The protection applies for nationals of member nations for all works published or unpublished. All forms of media are taken into consideration with specific attention to audiovisual works and rules for establishing a country of origin.
The Convention itself is an attempt to standardize rights of authorship and intellectual property among nations in the world. With 183 current member nations, the agreement has been mostly successful in protecting major rights of those creating intellectual property. Developing nations however, have exhibited difficulties in enforcing copyright laws as piracy runs rampant. The Berne Union itself acts as a strong entity and through global summits and conventions, work to protect intellectual property through legislation.
The Berne Convention laid the groundwork for today’s World Intellectual Property Organization and works with the WTO to enforce the agreement. Today, the WIPO administers 24 treaties in conjunction with other organizations for the international protection of intellectual property.
The specifics of the Berne Convention describe policies and definitions for legal use of works in the international realm. The Berne Union allows for international business and trade, but most important are the interactions that entrepreneurs exhibit because of the treaties. With clearly defined agreements, authors of new works know what and how works are protected outside their homeland.
My thesis pertains to Hollywood and the Berne Convention. Because of this union, the globalization and expansion of the movie industry has exploded. From increased distribution to stronger international partnerships, the Berne Convention allows for a better understanding of intellectual property practices in the global environment.