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Berne Convention
for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
Paris Act
of July 24, 1971,
as amended on
September 28, 1979
Berne Convention
for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
of September 9, 1886,
completed at PARIS on May 4, 1896,
revised at BERLIN on November 13, 1908,
completed at BERNE on March 20, 1914,
revised at ROME on June 2, 1928,
at BRUSSELS on June 26, 1948,
at STOCKHOLM on July 14, 1967,
and at PARIS on July 24, 1971,
and amended on September 28, 1979
TABLE OF CONTENTS*
Article 1: Establishment of a Union
Article 2: Protected Works: 1. “Literary and artistic works”; 2. Possible
requirement of fixation; 3. Derivative works; 4. Official texts; 5.
Collections; 6. Obligation to protect; beneficiaries of protection; 7.
Works of applied art and industrial designs; 8. News
Article 2bis: Possible Limitation of Protection of Certain Works: 1. Certain
speeches; 2. Certain uses of lectures and addresses; 3. Right to make
collections of such works
Article 3: Criteria of Eligibility for Protection: 1. Nationality of author; place of
publication of work; 2. Residence of author; 3. “Published” works;
4. “Simultaneously published” works
Article 4: Criteria of Eligibility for Protection of Cinematographic Works,
Works of Architecture and Certain Artistic Works
Article 5: Rights Guaranteed: 1. and 2. Outside the country of origin; 3. In the
country of origin; 4. “Country of origin”
Article 6: Possible Restriction of Protection in Respect of Certain Works of
Nationals of Certain Countries Outside the Union: 1. In the country
of the first publication and in other countries; 2. No retroactivity;
3. Notice
Article 6bis: Moral Rights: 1. To claim authorship; to object to certain
modifications and other derogatory actions; 2. After the author’s
death; 3. Means of redress
Article 7: Term of Protection: 1. Generally; 2. For cinematographic works; 3.
For anonymous and pseudonymous works; 4. For photographic
works and works of applied art; 5. Starting date of computation; 6.
Longer terms; 7. Shorter terms; 8. Applicable law; “comparison” of
terms
Article 7bis: Term of Protection for Works of Joint Authorship
Article 8: Right of Translation
* This Table of Contents is added for the convenience of the reader. It does not appear in the original (English) text of the
Convention.
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Article 9: Right of Reproduction: 1. Generally; 2. Possible exceptions; 3. Sound
and visual recordings
Article 10: Certain Free Uses of Works: 1. Quotations; 2. Illustrations for
teaching; 3. Indication of source and author
Article 10bis: Further Possible Free Uses of Works: 1. Of certain articles and
broadcast works; 2. Of works seen or heard in connection with
current events
Article 11: Certain Rights in Dramatic and Musical Works: 1. Right of public
performance and of communication to the public of a performance;
2. In respect of translations
Article 11bis: Broadcasting and Related Rights: 1. Broadcasting and other wireless
communications, public communication of broadcast by wire or
rebroadcast, public communication of broadcast by loudspeaker or
analogous instruments; 2. Compulsory licenses; 3. Recording;
ephemeral recordings
Article 11ter: Certain Rights in Literary Works: 1. Right of public recitation and of
communication to the public of a recitation; 2. In respect of
translations
Article 12: Right of Adaptation, Arrangement and Other Alteration
Article 13: Possible Limitation of the Right of Recording of Musical Works and
Any Words Pertaining Thereto: 1. Compulsory licenses; 2.
Transitory measures; 3. Seizure on importation of copies made
without the author’s permission
Article 14: Cinematographic and Related Rights: 1. Cinematographic adaptation
and reproduction; distribution; public performance and public
communication by wire of works thus adapted or reproduced;
2. Adaptation of cinematographic productions; 3. No compulsory
licenses
Article 14bis: Special Provisions Concerning Cinematographic Works: 1.
Assimilation to “original” works; 2. Ownership; limitation of certain
rights of certain contributors; 3. Certain other contributors
Article 14ter: “Droit de suite” in Works of Art and Manuscripts: 1. Right to an
interest in resales; 2. Applicable law; 3. Procedure
Article 15: Right to Enforce Protected Rights: 1. Where author’s name is
indicated or where pseudonym leaves no doubt as to author’s
identity; 2. In the case of cinematographic works; 3. In the case of
anonymous and pseudonymous works; 4. In the case of certain
unpublished works of unknown authorship
Article 16: Infringing Copies: 1. Seizure; 2. Seizure on importation; 3.
Applicable law
Article 17: Possibility of Control of Circulation, Presentation and Exhibition of
Works
Article 18: Works Existing on Convention’s Entry Into Force: 1. Protectable
where protection not yet expired in country of origin; 2. Nonprotectable
where protection already expired in country where it is
claimed; 3. Application of these principles; 4. Special cases
Article 19: Protection Greater than Resulting from Convention
Article 20: Special Agreements Among Countries of the Union
Article 21: Special Provisions Regarding Developing Countries: 1. Reference to
Appendix; 2. Appendix part of Act
Article 22: Assembly: 1. Constitution and composition; 2. Tasks; 3. Quorum,
voting, observers; 4. Convocation; 5. Rules of procedure
Article 23: Executive Committee: 1. Constitution; 2. Composition; 3. Number of
members; 4. Geographical distribution; special agreements; 5. Term,
limits of re-eligibility, rules of election; 6. Tasks; 7. Convocation;
8. Quorum, voting; 9. Observers; 10. Rules of procedure
Article 24: International Bureau: 1. Tasks in general, Director General; 2.
General information; 3. Periodical; 4. Information to countries; 5.
Studies and services; 6. Participation in meetings; 7. Conferences of
revision; 8. Other tasks
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Article 25: Finances: 1. Budget; 2. Coordination with other Unions; 3.
Resources; 4. Contributions; possible extension of previous budget;
5. Fees and charges; 6. Working capital fund; 7. Advances by host
Government; 8. Auditing of accounts
Article 26: Amendments: 1. Provisions susceptible of amendment by the
Assembly; proposals; 2. Adoption; 3. Entry into force
Article 27: Revision: 1. Objective; 2. Conferences; 3. Adoption
Article 28: Acceptance and Entry Into Force of Act for Countries of the Union:
1. Ratification, accession; possibility of excluding certain
provisions; withdrawal of exclusion; 2. Entry into force of Articles 1
to 21 and Appendix; 3. Entry into force of Articles 22 to 38
Article 29: Acceptance and Entry Into Force for Countries Outside the Union: 1.
Accession; 2. Entry into force
Article 29bis: Effect of Acceptance of Act for the Purposes of Article 14(2) of the
WIPO Convention
Article 30: Reservations: 1. Limits of possibility of making reservations; 2.
Earlier reservations; reservation as to the right of translation;
withdrawal of reservation
Article 31: Applicability to Certain Territories: 1. Declaration; 2. Withdrawal of
declaration; 3. Effective date; 4. Acceptance of factual situations not
implied
Article 32: Applicability of this Act and of Earlier Acts: 1. As between countries
already members of the Union; 2. As between a country becoming a
member of the Union and other countries members of the Union;
3. Applicability of the Appendix in Certain Relations
Article 33: Disputes: 1. Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice; 2.
Reservation as to such jurisdiction; 3. Withdrawal of reservation
Article 34: Closing of Certain Earlier Provisions: 1. Of earlier Acts; 2. Of the
Protocol to the Stockholm Act
Article 35: Duration of the Convention; Denunciation: 1. Unlimited duration;
2. Possibility of denunciation; 3. Effective date of denunciation;
4. Moratorium on denunciation
Article 36: Application of the Convention: 1. Obligation to adopt the necessary
measures; 2. Time from which obligation exists
Article 37: Final Clauses: 1. Languages of the Act; 2. Signature; 3. Certified
copies; 4. Registration; 5. Notifications
Article 38: Transitory Provisions: 1. Exercise of the “five-year privilege”; 2.
Bureau of the Union, Director of the Bureau; 3. Succession of
Bureau of the Union
Appendix
SPECIAL PROVISIONS REGARDING DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Article I: Faculties Open to Developing Countries: 1. Availability of certain
faculties; declaration; 2. Duration of effect of declaration; 3.
Cessation of developing country status; 4. Existing stocks of copies;
5. Declarations concerning certain territories; 6. Limits of reciprocity
Article II: Limitations on the Right of Translation: 1. Licenses grantable by
competent authority; 2 to 4. Conditions allowing the grant of such
licenses; 5. Purposes for which licenses may be granted; 6.
Termination of licenses; 7. Works composed mainly of illustrations;
8. Works withdrawn from circulation; 9. Licenses for broadcasting
organizations
Article III: Limitation on the Right of Reproduction: 1. Licenses grantable by
competent authority; 2 to 5. Conditions allowing the grant of such
licenses; 6. Termination of licenses; 7. Works to which this Article
applies
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Article IV: Provisions Common to Licenses Under Articles II and III: 1 and
2. Procedure; 3. Indication of author and title of work;
4. Exportation of copies; 5. Notice; 6. Compensation
Article V: Alternative Possibility for Limitation of the Right of Translation: 1.
Regime provided for under the 1886 and 1896 Acts; 2. No
possibility of change to regime under Article II; 3. Time limit for
choosing the alternative possibility
Article VI: Possibilities of applying, or admitting the application of, certain
provisions of the Appendix before becoming bound by it: 1.
Declaration; 2. Depository and effective date of declaration
The countries of the Union, being equally animated by the desire to protect, in as effective and
uniform a manner as possible, the rights of authors in their literary and artistic works,
Recognizing the importance of the work of the Revision Conference held at Stockholm in 1967,
Have resolved to revise the Act adopted by the Stockholm Conference, while maintaining without
change Articles 1 to 20 and 22 to 26 of that Act.
Consequently, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, having presented their full powers, recognized as in
good and due form, have agreed as follows:
Article 1
[Establishment of a Union]1
The countries to which this Convention applies constitute a Union for the protection of the rights of
authors in their literary and artistic works.
Article 2
[Protected Works: 1. “Literary and artistic works”; 2. Possible requirement of fixation; 3. Derivative works;
4. Official texts; 5. Collections; 6. Obligation to protect; beneficiaries of protection; 7. Works of applied art
and industrial designs; 8. News]
(1) The expression “literary and artistic works” shall include every production in the literary, scientific
and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression, such as books, pamphlets and
other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of the same nature; dramatic or dramaticomusical
works; choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show; musical compositions with or
without words; cinematographic works to which are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous to
cinematography; works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving and lithography;
photographic works to which are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous to photography; works
of applied art; illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and three-dimensional works relative to geography,
topography, architecture or science.
(2) It shall, however, be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to prescribe that works in
general or any specified categories of works shall not be protected unless they have been fixed in some
material form.
(3) Translations, adaptations, arrangements of music and other alterations of a literary or artistic work
shall be protected as original works without prejudice to the copyright in the original work.
(4) It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to determine the protection to be
granted to official texts of a legislative, administrative and legal nature, and to official translations of such
texts.
(5) Collections of literary or artistic works such as encyclopaedias and anthologies which, by reason of
the selection and arrangement of their contents, constitute intellectual creations shall be protected as such,
without prejudice to the copyright in each of the works forming part of such collections.
1 Each Article and the Appendix have been given titles to facilitate their identification. There are no titles in the signed (English)
text.
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(6) The works mentioned in this Article shall enjoy protection in all countries of the Union. This
protection shall operate for the benefit of the author and his successors in title.
(7) Subject to the provisions of Article 7(4) of this Convention, it shall be a matter for legislation in the
countries of the Union to determine the extent of the application of their laws to works of applied art and
industrial designs and models, as well as the conditions under which such works, designs and models shall
be protected. Works protected in the country of origin solely as designs and models shall be entitled in
another country of the Union only to such special protection as is granted in that country to designs and
models; however, if no such special protection is granted in that country, such works shall be protected as
artistic works.
(8) The protection of this Convention shall not apply to news of the day or to miscellaneous facts having
the character of mere items of press information.
Article 2bis
[Possible Limitation of Protection of Certain Works: 1. Certain speeches; 2. Certain uses of lectures and
addresses; 3. Right to make collections of such works]
(1) It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to exclude, wholly or in part, from the
protection provided by the preceding Article political speeches and speeches delivered in the course of legal
proceedings.
(2) It shall also be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to determine the conditions under
which lectures, addresses and other works of the same nature which are delivered in public may be
reproduced by the press, broadcast, communicated to the public by wire and made the subject of public
communication as envisaged in Article 11bis(1) of this Convention, when such use is justified by the
informatory purpose.
(3) Nevertheless, the author shall enjoy the exclusive right of making a collection of his works mentioned
in the preceding paragraphs.
Article 3
[Criteria of Eligibility for Protection: 1. Nationality of author; place of publication of work; 2. Residence of
author; 3. “Published” works; 4. “Simultaneously published” works]
(1) The protection of this Convention shall apply to:
(a) authors who are nationals of one of the countries of the Union, for their works, whether
published or not;
(b) authors who are not nationals of one of the countries of the Union, for their works first
published in one of those countries, or simultaneously in a country outside the Union and in a
country of the Union.
(2) Authors who are not nationals of one of the countries of the Union but who have their habitual
residence in one of them shall, for the purposes of this Convention, be assimilated to nationals of that
country.
(3) The expression “published works” means works published with the consent of their authors, whatever
may be the means of manufacture of the copies, provided that the availability of such copies has been such
as to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public, having regard to the nature of the work. The
performance of a dramatic, dramatico-musical, cinematographic or musical work, the public recitation of a
literary work, the communication by wire or the broadcasting of literary or artistic works, the exhibition of a
work of art and the construction of a work of architecture shall not constitute publication.
(4) A work shall be considered as having been published simultaneously in several countries if it has been
published in two or more countries within thirty days of its first publication.
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Article 4
[Criteria of Eligibility for Protection of Cinematographic Works, Works of Architecture and Certain Artistic
Works]
The protection of this Convention shall apply, even if the conditions of Article 3 are not fulfilled, to:
(a) authors of cinematographic works the maker of which has his headquarters or habitual
residence in one of the countries of the Union;
(b) authors of works of architecture erected in a country of the Union or of other artistic works
incorporated in a building or other structure located in a country of the Union.
Article 5
[Rights Guaranteed: 1. and 2. Outside the country of origin; 3. In the country of origin; 4. “Country of
origin”]
(1) Authors shall enjoy, in respect of works for which they are protected under this Convention, in
countries of the Union other than the country of origin, the rights which their respective laws do now or may
hereafter grant to their nationals, as well as the rights specially granted by this Convention.
(2) The enjoyment and the exercise of these rights shall not be subject to any formality; such enjoyment
and such exercise shall be independent of the existence of protection in the country of origin of the work.
Consequently, apart from the provisions of this Convention, the extent of protection, as well as the means of
redress afforded to the author to protect his rights, shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the country
where protection is claimed.
(3) Protection in the country of origin is governed by domestic law. However, when the author is not a
national of the country of origin of the work for which he is protected under this Convention, he shall enjoy
in that country the same rights as national authors.
(4) The country of origin shall be considered to be:
(a) in the case of works first published in a country of the Union, that country; in the case of works
published simultaneously in several countries of the Union which grant different terms of
protection, the country whose legislation grants the shortest term of protection;
(b) in the case of works published simultaneously in a country outside the Union and in a country
of the Union, the latter country;
(c) in the case of unpublished works or of works first published in a country outside the Union,
without simultaneous publication in a country of the Union, the country of the Union of which
the author is a national, provided that:
(i) when these are cinematographic works the maker of which has his headquarters or his
habitual residence in a country of the Union, the country of origin shall be that country,
and
(ii) when these are works of architecture erected in a country of the Union or other artistic
works incorporated in a building or other structure located in a country of the Union, the
country of origin shall be that country.
Article 6
[Possible Restriction of Protection in Respect of Certain Works of Nationals of Certain Countrie