Universal Copyright Convention as revised at Paris

Article I. Each Contracting State undertakes to provide for the adequate
and effective protection of the rights of authors and other copyright
proprietors in literary, scientific and artistic works, including writings,
musical, dramatic and cinematographic works, and paintings, engravings and
sculpture.
Article II.

1. Published works of nationals of any Contracting State and
works first published in that State shall enjoy in each other Contracting
State the same protection as that other State accords to works of its
nationals first published in its own territory, as well as the protection
specially granted by this Convention.
2. Unpublished works of nationals of each Contracting State shall enjoy in
each other Contracting State the same protection as that other State
accords to unpublished works of its own nationals, as well as the
protection specially granted by this Convention.
3. For the purpose of this Convention any Contracting State may, by
domestic legislation, assimilate to its own nationals any person domiciled
in that State.

Article III.

1. Any Contracting State which, under its domestic law, requires
as a condition of copyright, compliance with formalities such as deposit,
registration, notice, notarial certificates, payment of fees or manufacture
or publication in that Contracting State, shall regard these requirements
as satisfied with respect to all works protected in accordance with this
Convention and first published outside its territory and the author of
which is not one of its nationals, if from the time of the first
publication all the copies of the work published with the authority of the
author or other copyright proprietor bear the symbol � accompanied by the
name of the copyright proprietor and the year of first publication placed
in such manner and location as to give reasonable notice of claim of
copyright.

2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not preclude any Contracting State
from requiring formalities or other conditions for the acquisition and
enjoyment of copyright in respect of works first published in its territory
or works of its nationals wherever published.
3. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not preclude any Contracting State
from providing that a person seeking judicial relief must, in bringing the
action, comply with procedural requirements, such as that the complainant
must appear through domestic counsel or that the complainant must deposit
with the court or an administrative office, or both, a copy of the work
involved in the litigation; provided that failure to comply with such
requirements shall not affect the validity of the copyright, nor shall any
such requirement be imposed upon a national of another Contracting State if
such requirement is not imposed on nationals of the State in which
protection is claimed.
4. In each Contracting State there shall be legal means of protecting
without formalities the unpublished works of nationals of other Contracting
States.
5. If a Contracting State grants protection for more than one term of
copyright and the first term is for a period longer than one of the minimum
periods prescribed in article IV, such State shall not be required to
comply with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article in respect of the
second or any subsequent term of copyright.
Article IV.

1. The duration of protection of a work shall be governed, in
accordance with the provisions of article II and this article, by the law
of the Contracting State in which protection is claimed.
2.
(a) The term of protection for works protected under this Convention
shall not be less than the life of the author and twenty-five years after
his death. However, any Contracting State which, on the effective date of
this Convention in that State, has limited this term for certain classes of
works to a period computed from the first publication of the work, shall be
entitled to maintain these exceptions and to extend them to other classes
of works. For all these classes the term of protection shall not be less
than twenty-five years from the date of first publication.

(b) Any Contracting State which, upon the effective date of this Convention
in that State, does not compute the term of protection upon the basis of
the life of the author, shall be entitled to compute the term of protection
from the date of the first publication of the work or from its registration
prior to publication, as the case may be, provided the term of protection
shall not be less than twenty-five years from the date of first publication
or from its registration prior to publication, as the case may be.

(c) If the legislation of a Contracting State grants two or more successive
terms of protection, the duration of the first term shall not be less than
one of the minimum periods specified in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b).
3. The provisions of paragraph 2 shall not apply to photographic works or
to works of applied art; provided, however, that the term of protection in
those Contracting States which protect photographic works, or works of
applied art in so far as they are protected as artistic works, shall not be
less than ten years for each of said classes of works.
4.
(a) No Contracting State shall be obliged to grant protection to a work
for a period longer than that fixed for the class of works to which the
work in question belongs, in the case of unpublished works by the law of
the Contracting State of which the author is a national, and in the case of
published works by the law of the Contracting State in which the work has
been first published.

(b) For the purposes of the application of sub-paragraph (a), if the law of
any Contracting State grants two or more successive terms of protection,
the period of protection of that State shall be considered to be the
aggregate of those terms. However, if a specified work is not protected by
such State during the second or any subsequent term for any reason, the
other Contracting States shall not be obliged to protect it during the
second or any subsequent term.
5. For the purposes of the application of paragraph 4, the work of a
national of a Contracting State, first published in a non-Contracting
State, shall be treated as though first published in the Contracting State
of which the author is a national.
6. For the purposes of the application of paragraph 4, in case of
simultaneous publication in two or more Contracting States, the work shall
be treated as though first published in the State which affords the
shortest term, any work published in two or more Contracting States within
thirty days of its first publication shall be considered as having been
published simultaneously in said Contracting States.

Article IV bis.

1. The rights referred to in article I shall include the
basic rights ensuring the author’s economic interests, including the
exclusive right to authorize reproduction by any means, public performance
and broadcasting. The provisions of this article shall extend to works
protected under this Convention either in their original form or in any
form recognizably derived from the original.

2. However, any Contracting State may, by its domestic legislation, make
exceptions that do not conflict with the spirit and provisions of this
Convention, to the rights mentioned in paragraph 1 of this article. Any
State whose legislation so provides, shall nevertheless accord a reasonable
degree of effective protection to each of the rights to which exception has
been made.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Conventions: Chronological Index 1971-1990, Trade and Commercial Relations conventions, Universal Copyright Convention as revised at Paris 2, Universal Copyright Convention as revised at Paris 3, Universal Copyright Convention as revised at Paris 4, Universal Copyright Convention as revised at Paris 5.