[A2k] Declaration on the Three-Step Test in Copyright Law

[Manon Ress]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
    http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/events/index.html#threesteptest

Link to Declaration on the Three-Step Test

A Balanced Interpretation of the Three-Step Test in Copyright Law

  http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/events/docs/Declaration%20Three-Step%20Test.pdf


Queen Mary, University of London

July.20.2008
School of Law and Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property
coordinate launch of three-step test" declaration on international
copyright aw -July 20

In a joint project of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual
Property and Jonathan Griffiths and Dr. Uma Suthersanen from the
School of Law at Queen Mary, University of London, a group of experts
has collaborated on a declaration that aims to confirm the legitimacy
of a balanced interpretation of the =93three-step test=94 in copyright
law, which potentially will have "real international significance"
according to Griffiths. "The event will take place on Sunday 20 July
in Munich.

Griffiths added: "There are increasing concerns about the impact of
the so-called =93three-step test=94 on the law of copyright and related
rights. From its relatively modest origin as confirmation that
countries of the Berne Union are entitled to permit the reproduction
of copyright works =93in certain special cases, provided that such
reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work
and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the
author=94, the scope of this legal instrument has been steadily
extended. Under the TRIPS Agreement and the WIPO Treaties, it has been
applied to the full range of authors=92 and related rights and it has
also increasingly been enshrined explicitly in national legislation.
Today, the test affects all debates concerning the future of
exceptions and limitations to copyright.

At the same time, the prevalent understanding of the impact of the
=93three-step test=94 has become more restrictive. The WTO Panel=92s
interpretation of the test in its decision on section 110(5) of the
United States=92 Copyright Act 1976 was self-avowedly economic in focus
and appears to leave limited scope for states to balance the interests
of right-holders with countervailing interests of fundamental
importance. Domestic courts have sometimes misunderstood the
requirements of the test and, as a result, have applied it in a
profoundly unbalanced manner."