[A2k] The Berne Appendix

[A.C.Story]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]

A few questions have been raised on this list about the Berne Convention Ap=
pendix and its results.

Here are a couple of sentences summing up the effects of this Appendix by t=
wo leading copyright scholars, Sam Ricketson and Jane Ginsburg who, by no s=
tretch of the imagination ( even that of the now deceased Jack Valenti:  ht=
tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Valenti ), could be called radicals.

"The practical consequences:

"It is hard to point to any obvious benefits that have flowed directly to d=
eveloping countries from the adoption  of the Appendix. Indeed only a handf=
ul of developing countries have availed themselves of irs provisions in the=
 time since its adoption. Furthermore, of those countries that have made th=
e necessary declarations, very few actually seem to have implemented such l=
icensing schemes in their domestic laws."

After mentioning the international crisis of copyright in the 1960s --- a p=
eriod worth studying by the way -- Ricketson and Ginsburg conclude:

"The result [of the Berne Appendix] has been that developing countries are =
more fully integrated into the Berne Union system than ever before, and thi=
s is to extent that would have been inconceivable at the
start of the 1970s. In this respect,  it seems true to say that the Berne C=
onvention has scored a significant victory."

Yes, a victory no doubt for Berne and those who control it and WIPO and the=
 WTO and TRIPS and technical assistance programmes and ACTA today, but hard=
ly victory for the global South.

As, Irving Kristol (no doubt a good mate of Valenti's) said in 1997 about t=
he question of global cultural flows
---which is a central purpose of the global copyright system today ---  "ou=
r missionaries live in Hollywood."
Expecting the Berne Appendix to be of any serious value to the countries of=
 the global South is simply another
missionary fantasy story, whether it is made in Hollywood or Bollywood... o=
r by an NGO.

.....................
The above quotes from Ricketson and Ginsburg are from pages 957 and 960 of =
their 2006 work," Intermational Copyright and Neighbouring Rights: The Bern=
e Convention and Beyond."
For those who want to do further research, these pages contain footnotes of=
 countries that have used the Berne Appendix. For a number of reasons ( whi=
ch I won't go into here), it is a very short list.

Alan Story
Kent Law School