Download This PaperA Future of International Copyright? Berne and the Front Door Out
in Graeme Austin, Andrew Christie, Andrew Kenyon and Megan Richardson (eds) Across Intellectual Property: Essays in Honour of Sam Ricketson ((Cambridge University Press, 2020)
13 Pages Posted: 8 Apr 2019 Last revised: 18 Jul 2023
Date Written: March 12, 2019
Abstract
The Berne/TRIPS treaty pairing locks most of the world into outdated and effectively unamendable copyright structures. But members don't have to comply with the treaties when it comes to their own nationals. In this paper, I argue that the future of international copyright might involve taking the 'front door out' - domestically departing from Berne/TRIPS minima to implement reforms that would reclaim currently lost value for authors and simultaneously improve access to knowledge and culture.
'So here we are, a quarter of a century after TRIPS was agreed, almost half a century since Berne’s last substantive revision, and still using those same old bottles. As they detonate around us, the occasion of Sam’s Festschrift seems the ideal occasion to ask: just what are we going to do with all this wine?'
Keywords: Berne Convention, TRIPS, copyright, authors rights, formalities, international
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