Representatives of the following named countries signed the Convention: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Denmark, Free City of Danzig, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Great Britain, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, India, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Morocco, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Sweden, Switzerland. The Delegation wishes to call special attention to Paragraph 3 of Article 28 of the Rome Convention which, in translation, reads as follows: "The countries not members of the Union may up to the 1st of August 1931 join the Union by way of adhesion either to the Convention signed at Berlin on the 13th of November 1908, or to the present Convention. After the 1st of August 1931 they may only adhere to the present (Rome) Convention." A Resolution was also adopted (Voeu VI) to the following effect: "The Conference, bearing in mind the identity of general principles and objects of the Berne Convention, as revised first at Berlin and then at Rome, and of the Convention signed by the American States in Buenos Aires in 1910," as revised at Havana in February 1928; 45 noting that most of the dispositions of the two Conventions are in agreement: expresses the hope that conformably with the suggestions made by the Brazilian and French Delegations, the American Republics signatory to a convention to which the non-American States are unable to adhere, may, on the one hand, following the example of Brazil, accede to the Berne Convention as revised in Rome, and that, on the other hand, all the interested Governments may agree among themselves with a view to preparing a general understanding having as a base those rules of the two Conventions which are similar and as an object the unification throughout the world of the laws protecting intellectual production." The Delegation wishes to acknowledge the courteous consideration shown by the Conference to the suggestions made by our Delegation and the attentions and hospitalities received from the Italian Government and its officials while in attendance upon the Conference. Respectfully submitted, Foreign Relations, 1910, p. 57. "Not printed. HENRY P. FLETCHER THORVALD SOLBERG WARREN D. ROBBINS MOWATT M. MITCHELL GEORGE R. CANTY [Subenclosure-Translation] Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works Signed at Berne, September 9, 1886, As Revised and Signed at Berlin, November 13, 1908, and at Rome, June 2, 1928 ** The President of the German Reich; the Federal President of the Republic of Austria; His Majesty the King of the Belgians; the President of the United States of Brazil; His Majesty the King of the Bulgarians; His Majesty the King of Denmark; His Majesty the King of Spain; the President of the Republic of Estonia; the President of the Republic of Finland; the President of the French Republic; His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, Emperor of India; the President of the Hellenic Republic; His Most Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary; His Majesty the King of Italy; His Majesty the Emperor of Japan; Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Luxemburg; His Majesty the Sultan of Morocco; His Most Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco; His Majesty the King of Norway; Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands; the President of the Polish Republic in the name of Poland and of the Free City of Danzig; the President of the Portuguese Republic; His Majesty the King of Rumania; His Majesty the King of Sweden; the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation; the States of Syria and the Great Lebanon; the President of the Czechoslovak Republic; His Highness the Bey of Tunis Equally animated by the desire to protect in as efficacious and uniform a manner as possible the rights of authors as to their literary and artistic works, Have resolved to revise and complete the Act signed at Berlin on November 13, 1908. They have, consequently, named as their plenipotentiaries: [Here follows list of names of plenipotentiaries.] Who, being thereunto duly authorized, have agreed upon the following: ARTICLE 1 The Countries to which the present Convention applies shall be constituted into a Union for the protection of the rights of authors in their literary and artistic works. ARTICLE 2 (1) The term "literary and artistic works" shall include all productions in the literary, scientific, and artistic domain, whatever the "Official text is in French; this translation is reprinted from S. Ex. Doc. E, 73d Cong., 2d sess. The convention was submitted to the Senate Feb. 19, 1934. For list of ratifications and adhesions, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cxx, pp. 235-239. mode or form of expression, such as: books, pamphlets, and other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of like nature; dramatic or dramatico-musical works; choreographic works and pantomimes, the staging (mise en scène) of which is fixed in writing or otherwise; musical compositions with or without words; drawings, paintings; works of architecture and sculpture; engravings and lithographs; illustrations; geographical charts; plans, sketches, and plastic works relating to geography, topography, architecture, or the sciences. (2) Translations, adaptations, arrangements of music and other reproductions transformed from a literary or artistic work, as well as compilations from different works, shall be protected as original works without prejudice to the rights of the author of the original work. (3) The countries of the Union shall be bound to secure protection in the case of the works mentioned above. (4) Works of art applied to industry shall be protected so far as the domestic legislation of each country allows. ARTICLE 2 BIS (1) The authority is reserved to the domestic legislation of each country of the Union to exclude, partially or wholly, from the protection provided by the preceding Article political discourses or discourses pronounced in judicial debates. (2) There is also reserved to the domestic legislation of each country of the Union authority to enact the conditions under which such lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of like nature may be reproduced by the press. Nevertheless, the author alone shall have the right to bring such works together in a compilation. ARTICLE 3 The present convention shall apply to photographic works and to works obtained by any process analogous to photography. The countries of the Union shall be bound to guarantee protection to such works. ARTICLE 4 (1) Authors within the jurisdiction of one of the countries of the Union shall enjoy for their works, whether unpublished or published for the first time in one of the countries of the Union, such rights, in the countries other than the country of origin of the work, as the respective laws now accord or shall hereafter accord to nationals, as well as the rights specially accorded by the present Convention. (2) The enjoyment and the exercise of such rights shall not be subject to any formality; such enjoyment and such exercise are independent of the existence of protection in the country of origin of the work. Consequently, apart from the stipulations of the present Convention, the extent of the protection, as well as the means of redress guaranteed to the author to safeguard his rights, shall be regulated exclusively according to the legislation of the country where the protection is claimed. (3) The following shall be considered as the country of origin of the work: for unpublished works, the country to which the author belongs; for published works, the country of first publication, and for works published simultaneously in several countries of the Union, the country among them whose legislation grants the shortest term of protection. For works published simultaneously in a country outside of the Union and in a country within the Union, it is the latter country which shall be exclusively considered as the country of origin. (4) By "published works" ("oeuvres publiées") must be understood, according to the present Convention, works which have been issued ("oeuvres éditées"). The representation of a dramatic or dramatico-musical work, the performance of a musical work, the exhibition of a work of art and the construction of a work of architecture shall not constitute publication. ARTICLE 5 Authors within the jurisdiction of one of the countries of the Union who publish their works for the first time in another country of the Union, shall have in this latter country the same rights as national authors. ARTICLE 6 (1) Authors not within the jurisdiction of any one of the countries of the Union, who publish their works for the first time in one of the Union countries, shall enjoy in such Union country the same rights as national authors, and in the other countries of the Union the rights accorded by the present Convention. (2) Nevertheless, when a country outside of the Union does not protect in an adequate manner the works of authors within the jurisdiction of one of the countries of the Union, this latter Union country may restrict the protection for the works of authors who are, at the time of the first publication of such works, within the jurisdiction of the non-union country and are not actually domiciled in one of the countries of the Union. (3) Any restriction, established by virtue of the preceding paragraph, shall not prejudice the rights which an author may have acquired in a work published in one of the countries of the Union before the putting into effect of this restriction. (4) The countries of the Union which, by virtue of the present article, restrict the protection of the rights of authors, shall notify the fact to the Government of the Swiss Confederation by a written declaration indicating the countries in whose case protection is restricted, and indicating also the restrictions to which the rights of authors within the jurisdiction of such country are subjected. The Government of the Swiss Confederation shall immediately communicate this fact to all the countries of the Union. ARTICLE 6 BIS (1) Independently of the author's copyright, and even after assignment of the said copyright, the author shall retain the right to claim authorship of the work, as well as the right to object to every deformation, mutilation or other modification of the said work, which may be prejudicial to his honor or to his reputation. (2) It is left to the national legislation of each of the countries of the Union to establish the conditions for the exercise of these rights. The means for safeguarding them shall be regulated by the legislation of the country where protection is claimed. ARTICLE 7 (1) The duration of the protection granted by the present Convention shall comprise the life of the author and fifty years after his death. (2) In case this period of protection, however, should not be adopted uniformly by all the countries of the Union, its duration shall be regulated by the law of the country where protection is claimed, and it can not exceed the term fixed in the country of origin of the work. The countries of the Union will consequently not be required to apply the provision of the preceding paragraph beyond the extent to which it agrees with their domestic law. (3) For photographic works and works obtained by a process analogous to photography; for posthumous works; for anonymous or pseudonymous works, the term of protection shall be regulated by the law of the country where protection is claimed, but this term shall not exceed the term fixed in the country of origin of the work. ARTICLE 7 BIS (1) The term of copyright protection belonging in common to collaborators in a work shall be calculated according to the date of the death of the last survivor of the collaborators. (2) Persons within the jurisdiction of countries which grant a shorter period of protection than that provided in paragraph 1 can not claim in the other countries of the Union a protection of longer duration. |