WIPO Copyright Treaty
The WIPO Copyright Treaty, adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996, provides additional protections for copyright deemed necessary in the modern information era.
It ensures that computer programs are protected as literary works (Article 4) and that the arrangement and selection of material in databases is protected (Article 5).
It provides authors of works with control over their rental and distribution (Articles 6-8) which they may not have under the Berne Convention alone.
And it prohibits circumvention of technological measures for the protection of works (Article 11) and unauthorised modification of rights management information contained in works (Article 12).
The WIPO Copyright Treaty is implemented in United States law by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). By Decision of 16 March 2000, the European Council approved the treaty, on behalf of the European Community. EU Directives 91/250/EC (copyright protection for software)
96/9/EC (database protection) and 2001/29/EC (protection for anti-circumvention technologies and rights management technologies) largely cover the subject matter of the treaty.
However, although the United States Congress passed both the DMCA and a copyright term extension during the same week
and used the same method (voice vote) to make it less likely that the news media would report on the bills,
and the European Union adopted its own copyright term extension around the same time,
the WIPO Copyright Treaty made no reference to copyright term extension beyond the existing terms of the Berne Convention.
External links and References
- The text of the treaty is available at:
- http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/copytreaty.html
- The United Kingdom implemented much of Article 11 in 1988:
- http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880048_en_21.htm#mdiv296
Referenced By
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights | Agreement on Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights | Berne three-step test | Circuit design rights | Copyright | Copyright Expiration Day | Copyright law | DMCA | DeCSS | DeCSS source code | Digital Millenium Copyright Act | Digital Millennium Copyright Act | Digital television | Digital television broadcasting | Directive on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society | EU Copyright Directive | EU Directive on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society | History of copyright | Limitations and exceptions to copyright | List of international public law topics | List of international trade topics | List of international treaties | List of treaties | Mask work | Mask work copyright | National Information Infrastructure | OMPI | Prime number | Prime numbers | Primes | Software licence | Software license | TRIPS | Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property | Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights | U.S. copyright law | US Copyright Law | United States Copyright Law | WIPO | World Intellectual Property Organisation | World Intellectual Property Organization
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