Need for the Berne Convention -3 Signing the Berne Convention is another in this series of steps we should take toward solving international piracy. It provides a higher level of protection than that afforded by the Universal Copyright Convention, to which the U.S. subscribes. The United States is the only major developed country in the Free World that is not a Berne signatory. We are pressuring trading partners in developing countries to meet high, worldwide standards of intellectual property protection. But we are not in the best position to do that when we do not provide as much protection as other countries. "Why shouldn't we be allowed to have a unique standard of protection," our partners are asking, "when the U.S. also has a lesser standard of protection." Intellectual property protection is far too important to the future of the United States to allow this situation to continue. The Administration has committed itself to promoting enhanced intellectual property rights protection through bilateral negotiations and by seeking the inclusion of intellectual property rights on the next GATT agenda. We must give our negotiators maximum support in their fight to win that protection. Signing the Berne Convention will, we believe, strengthen the position of our negotiators. Is consistent with one of the major themes Congress expressed in the Trade Act of 1985, which gave the Government authority to negotiate and use tools to secure the adoption of adequate and effective protection of intellectual property by our trading partners. Is fully consistent with the objective of the Administration to promote intellectual property rights protection worldwide. The U.S. should adhere to the Berne Convention at the earliest possible date. GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS OFFICE ABA net 140 DIRECTOR Robert D Evans STAFF DIRECTOR FOR Craig H Baab ABA net 185 STAFF DIRECTOR FOR BAR LIAISON Kevin Driscoll ABA/net 462 STAFF DIRECTOR FOR MEMBER LIAISON Irene & Emsellem ABA net 461 LEGISLATIVE COORDINATORS Lillan 8 Caskin Denise A Cardman E. Bruce Nicholson ABA/net 202 STAFF DIRECTOR FOR INFORMATION SERVICES Sharon Greene ABA/net 284 EDITOR WASHINGTON LETTER Rhonda 1 Mc Million STATE LEGISLATIVE Patrick Sheehan We understand that on February 9 and 10 your Subcommittee held hearings on adherence by the United States to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Last September, President MacCrate of the American Bar Association expressed in a letter to you the Association's strong support for United States adherence to the Berne Convention. As stated in that letter, we believe that U.S. adherence to the Berne Convention is the most important international copyright issue facing the American copyright community today. Please include that letter, a copy of which is attached, in the record of your hearings. We appreciate your efforts and those of your colleagues to bring the matter of U.S adherence to a successful conclusion. Thank you for the invitation to comment. We appreciate United States adherence to the Berne Convention is Growing support for the United States to join Berne, especially during the last several years, has been evident. Indeed, the 1976 Copyright Act, enacted under your leadership, was drafted, as you have acknowledged, "with a weather eye on Berne." The support for Berne has been increasing for several reasons among the more significant of which are the following: First, while the United States is a signatory to the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) which has seventy-eight adherents, Berne adherence would regularize the United States' copyright relations with an additional twenty-four States that adhere to Berne but not the UCC. Second, Berne adherence should result generally in increasing the international protection available to United States copyright proprietors. (2) Third, Berne adherence would better fulfill the responsibility of the United States as a leading originator of copyrighted works to promote international comity and a unified system of copyright throughout the world, particularly since the United States withdrawal from UNESCO will most likely mean a significantly diminished voice in the UCC. Fourth, we would no longer be subject (justifiably) to the accusations of hypocrisy, and to possible retaliation, from Berne nations who resent our "free ride" on their Convention through "back door" of simultaneous publication. Fifth, for all these reasons, Berne membership would strengthen the ability of the United States in future bilateral and multilateral negotiations (e.g., the inclusion of higher Berne standards in a GATT code). We believe that it is absolutely essential for the protection of American works in the markets of other countries to have the United States become a member of this major International Convention. It is widely recognized that United States works are not as adequately and effectively protected as they could be under a plan that includes, as one of several international trade related proposals, the United States as a party to the Berne Convention. We also believe that it is especially important to inform you of the Association's favorable position towards Berne adherence before your September 16, 1987, hearing on the relationship between moral rights and Berne adherence. We fear that an issue as to moral rights is being made to appear as critical with respect to Berne adherence. We believe, however, that it is a non-issue which should not be made to appear as controlling in the "yes/no" context of the United States answer on Berne adherence. It is clearly appropriate in this context for the Congress to address a question of the type which accompanied the introduction of your Bill H.R.1623 -- i.e., "whether (moral) rights exist with the degree of national uniformity and predictability which should be provided in order fairly to comply with Berne requirements." The answer appears to be "yes" in terms of the present (i.e.. that the level of moral rights law in the United States is compatible with Berne requirements for adherence) as well as |