Copyright, Its History and Its Law/Appendix 4
IV
PAN AMERICAN UNION: CONVENTIONS
II. MONTEVIDEO CONVENTION, 1889
Treaty on Literary and Artistic Copyright
Adopted January 11, 1889
Article 1
Union to protect literary and artistic property The contracting States promise to recognize and protect the rights of literary and artistic property, according to the provisions of the present treaty.
Article 2
Authors shall enjoy rights secured in country of origin The author of any literary or artistic work, and his successors, shall enjoy in the contracting States the rights accorded him by the law of the State in which its original publication or production took place.
Article 3
Definition of copyright The author's right of ownership in a literary or artistic work shall comprise the right to dispose of it, to publish it, to convey it to another, to translate it or to authorize its translation, and to reproduce it in any form whatsoever.
Article 4
Term not to exceed that of country of origin No State shall be obliged to recognize the right to literary or artistic property for a longer period than that allowed to authors who obtain the same right in that State. This period may be limited to that prescribed in the country where it originates, if such period be the shorter.
Article 5
By the expression literary or artistic works is understood all books, pamphlets, or other writings, dramatic or Definition of "literary and artistic work" dramatico-musical works, chorographies, musical compositions with or without words, drawings, paintings, sculptures, engravings, photographs, lithographs, geographical maps, plans, sketches, and plastic works relating to geography, topography, architecture, or to [the sciences in general; and finally every production in the field of literature or art which may be published in any way by printing or reproduction.
Article 6
Translation rights The translators of works of which a copyright either does not exist or has expired, shall enjoy with respect to their translations the rights declared in Article 3, but they shall not prevent the publication of other translations of the same work.
Article 7
Newspaper articles Newspaper articles may be reproduced upon quoting the publication from which they are taken. From this provision articles relating to the sciences or arts, and the reproduction of which shall have been prohibited by the authors are excepted.
Article 8
Addresses Speeches pronounced or read in deliberative assemblies, before tribunals of justice, or in public meetings, may be published in the public press without any authorization whatsoever.
Article 9
Infringements defined Under the head of illicit reproductions shall be classed all indirect, unauthorized appropriations of a literary or artistic work, which may be designated by different names as adaptations, arrangements, etc., etc., and which are no more than a reproduction without presenting the character of an original work.
Article 10
Authority recognized The rights of authorship shall be allowed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, in favor of the persons whose names or pseudonyms shall be borne upon the literary or artistic works in question.
If the authors wish to withhold their names, they should inform the editors that the rights of authorship belong to them.
Article 11
Each government to exercise supervision Those who usurp the right of literary or artistic property shall be brought before the courts and tried according to the laws of the country in which the fraud may have been committed.
Article 12
Immoral works The recognition of the right of ownership of literary and artistic works shall not prevent the contracting States from preventing by suitable legislation the reproduction, publication, circulation, representation, or exhibition of all works which may be considered contrary to good morals.
Article 13
Ratification The simultaneous ratification of all the contracting nations shall not be necessary to the effectiveness of this treaty. Those who adopt it will communicate the fact to the Governments of the Argentine Republic and the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, who will inform the other contracting nations. This formality will take the place of an exchange.
Article 14
Indefinite period The exchange having been made in the manner prescribed in the foregoing article, this treaty shall remain in period force for an indefinite period after that act.
Article 15
Withdrawals If any of the contracting nations should deem it advisable to be released from this treaty, or introduce modifications in it, said nation shall so inform the rest; but it shall not be released until two years after the date of notification, during which time measures will be taken to effect a new arrangement.
Article 16
Adherences The provisions of Article 13 are extended to all nations who, although not represented in this Congress, may desire to adopt the present treaty.
Signatories The seven countries represented and whose delegates signed the Montevideo treaty were: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay. But the convention was ratified only by Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru and Boliva, and Brazil and Chile did not become participants. Participation of Belgium, France, Italy and Spain in this convention was accepted by Argentina and Paraguay, but apparently not by the other countries.
12. MEXICO CITY CONVENTION, 1902
Convention to protect Literary and Artistic Property, signed at Mexico, January 27, 1902
Article 1
Union to protect literary and artistic property The signatory States constitute themselves into a Union Union for the purpose of recognizing and protecting the rights of literary and artistic property, in conformity with the stipulations of the present Convention.
Article 2
Definition of "literary and artistic works" Under the term "literary and artistic works" are comprised books, manuscripts, pamphlets of all kinds, no matter what subject they may treat of and what may be the number of their pages; dramatic or melodramatic works; choral music and musical compositions, with or without words; designs, drawings, paintings, sculpture, engravings, photographic works; astronomical and geographical globes; plans, sketches, and plastic works, relating to geography or geology, topography or architecture, or any other science; and, finally, every production in the literary and artistic field which may be published by any method of impression or reproduction.
Article 3
Definition of copyright The copyright to literary or artistic work consists in the exclusive right to dispose of the same, to publish, sell, and translate the same, or to authorize its translation, and to reproduce the same in any manner either entirely or partially.
Exclusive right of translation The authors belonging to one of the signatory countries, or their assigns, shall enjoy in the other signatory countries and for the time stipulated in Article 5 the exclusive right to translate their works or to authorize their translation.
Article 4
Application for copyright and deposit of two copies In order to obtain the recognition of the copyright of a work, it is indispensable that the author or his assigns or legitimate representative, shall address a petition to the official department which each Government may designate, claiming the recognition of such right, which petition must be accompanied by two copies of his work, said copies to remain in the proper department.
One additional copy to be deposited for each country If the author or his assigns should desire that this copyright be recognized in any other of the signatory countries, he shall attach to his petition a number of copies of his work equal to that of the countries he may therein designate.Copies and certificates of registration to be transmitted The said department shall distribute the copies mentioned among those countries, accompanied by a copy of the respective certificate, in order that the copyright of the author may be recognized by them.
Any omissions which the said department may incur in this respect shall not give the author or his assigns any rights to present claims against the State.
Article 5
Authors shall enjoy rights secured in country of origin for like term The authors who belong to one of the signatory countries, or their assigns, shall enjoy in the other countries the rights which their respective laws at present grant, or in the future may grant, to their own citizens, but such right shall not exceed the term of protection granted in the country of its origin.
Works in parts or in several volumes For the works composed of several volumes which are not published at the same time, as well as for bulletins or installments of publications of literary or scientific societies or of private parties, the term of property shall commence to be counted from the date of the publication of each volume, bulletin, or installment.
Article 6
Country of first publication country of origin The country in which a work is first published shall be considered as the country of its origin, or, if such publication takes place simultaneously in several of the signatory countries, the one whose laws establish the shortest period of protection shall be considered as the country of its origin.
Article 7
Translations protected Lawful translations shall be protected in the same manner as original works. The translators of works in regard to which there exists no guaranteed right of property, or the right of which may have become extinguished, may secure the right of property for their translations, as established in Article 3, but they shall not prevent the publication of other translations of the same work.
Article 8
Newspaper articles Newspaper articles may be reproduced, but the publication from which they are taken must be mentioned, and the name of the author given, if it should appear in the same.
Article 9
Works bearing names of authors or pseudonyms protected Copyright shall be recognized in favor of the persons whose names or acknowledged pseudonyms are stated in the respective literary or artistic work or in the petition to which Article 4 of this Convention refers, excepting case of proof to the contrary.
Article 10
Addresses Addresses delivered or read in deliberative assemblies, before the courts of justice, and in public meetings may be published in the newspaper press without any special authorization.
Article 11
Fragments of literary or artistic works The reproduction in publications devoted to public instruction or chrestomathy of fragments of literary or artistic works confers no right of property, and may therefore be freely made in all the signatory countries.
Article 12
Infringement defined All unauthorized indirect use of a literary or artistic work which does not present the character of an original work shall be considered as an unlawful reproduction.
It shall be considered in the same manner unlawful to reproduce in any form an entire work, or the greater part of the same, accompanied by notes or commentaries, under the pretext of literary criticism or of enlargement or completement of an original work.
Article 13
Fraudulent copies to be sequestrated, etc. All fraudulent works shall be liable to sequestration in the signatory countries in which the original work may have the right of legal protection, without prejudice to the indemnity or punishments to which the falsifiers may be liable according to the laws of the country in which the fraud has been committed.
Article 14
Each Government to exercise supervision Each one of the Governments of the signatory countries shall remain at liberty to permit, exercise vigilance over, or prohibit the circulation, representation and exposition of any work or production in respect to which the competent authorities shall have power to exercise such right.
Article 15
Convention to take effect three months after ratification The present Convention shall take effect between the signatory States that ratify it, three months from the day they communicate their ratification to the Mexican Government, and shall remain in force among all of them until one year from the date it is denounced by any of said States. The notification of such denouncement shall be addressed to the Mexican Government and shall only have effect in so far as regards the country which has given it.
Article 16
Adherence of nations not represented at 2d Int. Am. Conference The Governments of the signatory states, when approving the present Convention, shall declare whether they accept the adherence to the same by the nations which have had no representation in the Second International American Conference.
In testimony whereof the Plenipotentiaries and Delegates sign the present Convention and set thereto the seal of the Second International American Conference.
Signed at City of Mexico, Jan. 27, 1902
Made in the City of Mexico, on the twenty-seventh day of January, nineteen hundred and two, in three copies written in Spanish, English, and French, respectively, which shall be deposited at the Department of Foreign Relations of the Government of the Mexican United States, so that certified copies thereof may be made, in order to send them through the diplomatic channel to the signatory States. 13. RIO DE JANEIRO CONVENTION, 1906
Convention, signed at Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 1906, to protect Patents of Invention, Drawings and Industrial Models, Trade-Marks, and Literary and Artistic Property
Article 1
Patents, trade-marks, copyrights The subscribing nations adopt in regard to patents of invention, drawings and industrial models, trade-marks, and literary and artistic property the treaties subscribed at the Second International Conference of American States, held in Mexico on the 27th of January, 1902, with such modifications as are expressed in the present Convention.
Article 2
Union; Bureaus at Havana and Rio de Janeiro A union is constituted of the nations of America, which will be rendered effective by means of two Bureaus, which will be maintained, one in the city of Havana and the other in that of Rio de Janeiro, each working closely with the other, to be styled Bureaus of the International American Union for the Protection of Intellectual and Industrial Property, and will have for their object the centralization of the registration of literary and artistic works, patents, trade-marks, drawings, models, etc., which will be registered, in each one of the signatory nations, according to the respective treaties and with a view to their validity and recognition by the others.
Registration optional This international registration is entirely optional with persons interested, since they are free to apply, personally or through an attorney-in-fact, for registration in each one of the States in which they seek protection.
Article 3
Bureau at Havana The Bureau established in the city of Havana will have charge of the registrations from the United States of America, the United States of Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, San Domingo, San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and Colombia.
Bureau at Rio de Janeiro The Bureau established in the city of Rio de Janeiro will attend to the registrations coming from the republics of Rio de the United States of Brazil, Uruguay, Argentine Republic, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador.
Article 4
Bureaus to be considered as one For the purpose of the legal unification of the registration, the two International Bureaus, which are divided merely with a view to greater facility of communication, are considered as one, and to this end it is established that (a) both shall have the same books and the same accounts kept under an identical system; (b) copies shall be transmitted monthly from one to the other, authenticated by the Governments in whose territories they have their seat, of all the registrations, communications, and other documents affecting the recognition of the rights of proprietors or authors.
Article 5
Copies of registrations to be transmitted Each one of the Governments adhering to the Union will send at the end of each month to the proper Bureau, according to Art. 3, authenticated copies of all registrations of trade-marks, patents, drawings, models, etc., and copies of the literary and artistic works registered in them, as well as of all lapses, renunciations, transfers, and other alterations occurring in proprietary rights, according to the respective treaties and laws, in order that they may be sent out or distributed and notice given of them as the case may be by the International Bureau to those nations in direct correspondence therewith.
Article 6
Bureaus to transmit certificates The registration or deposit of drawings, models, etc., made in the country of origin according to the national law of the same and transmitted by the respective administration to the International Bureau, shall be by such Bureau laid before the other countries of the Union, by which it shall be given full faith and credit, except in the case provided for in Art. 9 of the Treaty on Patents, Trade-Marks, etc., of Mexico, and in case the requirements essential to the recognition of international property are lacking where literary or artistic works are involved according to the treaty thereon subscribed in Mexico.
Protection to be allowed or refused within one year In order that the States forming the Union may accept or refuse the recognition of the rights granted in the country of origin, and for the further legal purposes of such recognition, such States shall be allowed a term of one year from the date of notification by the proper office for the purpose of so doing.
Notification in case protection is not allowed In case patents, trade-marks, drawings, models, etc., or the right to literary or artistic works shall fail to obtain recognition on the part of any one of the offices of the States forming the Union, the International Bureau shall be made acquainted with the facts and reasons of the case in order that in its turn these facts maybe transmitted by it to the office of origin and to the interested party, for proper action according to local law.
Article 7
Registration in country of origin to have same effect as registration in each country Every registration or recognition of intellectual and industrial rights made in one of the countries of the Union and communicated to the others according to the form prescribed in the preceding articles shall have the same effect that would be produced if said registration or recognition had taken place in all of them, and every nullification or lapse of rights occurring in the country of origin and communicated in the same form to the others shall produce in them the same effect that it would produce in the former.
Term of protection, that of country of origin The period of international protection derived from the registration shall be that recognized by the laws of the country where the rights originated or have been recognized;If no term by law, then as specified and if said laws do not provide for such matters or do not specify a fixed period, the respective periods shall be: for patents, 15 years; for trade-marks or commercial designs, models, and industrial drawings, 10 years; for literary and artistic works,Copyright, 25 years after death of author 25 years, counting from the death of the author thereof. The first two periods may be renewed at will by giving the same form as in the case of the first registration.
Article 8
Regulations to govern bureaus The International Bureaus for the protection of intellectual and industrial property shall be governed by identical regulations, formed with the concurrence of the Governments of the Republics of Cuba and Brazil and approved by all the others belonging to the Union. Their budgets, after being sanctioned by the said Governments,Expenses of bureaus shall be defrayed by all of the subscribing Governments in the same proportion established for the International Bureau of American Republics at Washington, and in this particular they shall be placed under the control of those Governments within whose territories they are established.
Registration fee, $5 American gold To the tax on rights which the country of their origin collects for registration or deposit and other acts resulting from the recognition or guaranty of intellectual and Industrial property, shall be added a fee of five dollars, American gold, which fee or the equivalent thereof in the currency of the country in which the payment is made shall be distributed in equal parts among the Governments in whose territory the International Bureaus shall be established, the sole object of this being to contribute to the maintenance of the said Bureaus.
Article 9
Functions of Bureaus: In addition to the functions prescribed in the preceding articles, the International Bureaus shall have the following:
1. To collect and publish information 1st. To collect information of all kinds regarding the protection of intellectual and industrial property and to publish and circulate the same among the countries of America at proper intervals;
2. May publish official reviews 2nd. To encourage the study of questions regarding the said subjects, to which end they may publish one or more official reviews containing all documents forwarded to them by the offices of the subscribing countries;
3. To give notice of difficulties 3rd. To lay before the Governments of the Union any difficulties or obstacles that may arise in the efficacious application of the present Convention, and indicate means to correct or remove such difficulties or obstacles;
4. To originate and prepare for international conferences 4th. To help the Governments of the Union in the preparation of international conferences for the study and progress of legislation and intellectual and industrial properties, for alterations which it may be proper to introduce in the regulations of the Union or in the treaties in force on the said subject, and in case such conferences take place the directors of the Bureaus, not appointed to represent any countries, shall have a right to attend the meetings and express their opinions at them, but not to vote;
5. To make yearly report 5th. To present to the Governments of the countries where they shall have their seats a yearly report of their labors, which shall be communicated to all of the States of the Union;
6. To arrange for the exchange of publications, etc. 6th. To establish relations for the exchange of publications, informations and data conducive to the progress of the institution with similar bureaus, and institutions, and with scientific, literary, artistic, and industrial corporations of Europe and America;
7. To act as agent for each of the Governments concerned 7th. To cooperate as agent for each one of the Governments of the Union for the transaction of any business, the taking of any initiative, or the execution of any act conducive to further the ends of the present Convention with the offices of the other Governments.
Article 10
Registration required to replace provisions of treaties of 1902 The provisions contained in the Treaties of Mexico of January 27th, 1902, on patents of invention, drawings and industrial models, and commercial trade-marks, and on literary and artistic property, so far as regards the formalities of the registration or recognition of said rights in other countries than that of origin, shall be considered as replaced by the provisions of the present Convention as soon as one of the International Bureaus shall have been established, and only with regard to those States which have concurred in its constitution; in all other cases the said treaties shall remain in force and the present Convention shall be considered additional thereto.
Article 11
Cuba and Brazil to organize Copyright Bureaus The Governments of the Republics of Cuba and the United States of Brazil shall proceed with the organization of the International Bureaus upon the ratification of this Convention by at least two-thirds of the nations belonging to each group mentioned in Article 3. The simultaneous establishment of both Bureaus shall not be necessary; one only may be established if there be the number of adherent Governments provided above, the Government in which the Bureau has its seat being charged with taking the proper steps to secure this result, availing itself of the powers contained in the eighth article.
Bureau first established to be used until second is organized In the event that one of the two offices referred to in this Convention shall have been established, the countries belonging to a group other than that to which the Bureau corresponds shall have the right to join it until the second Bureau shall be established. Upon the establishment of the second Bureau the first Bureau shall transmit to the same all the data referred to in Article 12.
Article 12
Adhesions to treaty to be communicated to Brazil As regards the adhesion of the American nations to the present Convention, it will be communicated to the Government of the United States of Brazil, which will lay it before the others, these communications taking the place of an exchange of notes.
Brazil to notify Bureau of each adhesion The Government of Brazil will also notify the International Bureau of this adhesion, and this Bureau will forward to the newly adhering State a complete statement of all the marks, patents, models, drawings, and literary and artistic works registered which at the time shall be under international protection.
In testimony whereof the Plenipotentiaries and Delegates have signed the present Convention and affixed the seal of the Third International American Conference.
Made in the City of Rio de Janeiro the twenty-third day of August, nineteen hundred and six,Signed at Rio de Janeiro, Aug. 23, 1906 in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and deposited with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the United States of Brazil, in order that certified copies thereof be made and sent through diplomatic channels to the signatory States.
14. BUENOS AIRES CONVENTION, 1910
Convention on Literary and Artistic Copyright Signed at Buenos Aires, August 11, 1910
Article 1
Union to protect literary and artistic property The signatory States acknowledge and protect the rights of literary and artistic property in conformity with the stipulations of the present convention.
Article 2
Definition of "literary and artistic works" In the expression "Literary and artistic works" are included books, writings, pamphlets of all kinds, whatever may be the subject of which they treat and whatever the number of their pages; dramatic or dramatico-musical works; choreographic and musical compositions, with or without words; drawings, paintings, sculpture, engravings; photographic works; astronomical or geographical globes; plans, sketches or plastic works relating to geography, geology or topography, architecture or any other science; and, finally, all productions that can be published by any means of impression or reproduction.
Article 3
Formalities The acknowledgment of a copyright obtained in one State, in conformity with its laws, shall produce its effects of full right in all the other States without the necessity of complying with any other formality, provided always there shall appear in the work a statement that indicates the reservation of the property right.
Article 4
Definition of copyright The copyright of a literary or artistic work includes for its author or assigns the exclusive power of disposing of the same, of publishing, assigning, translating, or authorizing its translation and reproducing it in any form whether wholly or in part.
Article 5
Authorship recognized The author of a protected work, except in case of proof to the contrary, shall be considered the person whose name or well-known nom de plume is indicated therein; consequently suit brought by such author or his representative against counterfeiters or violators shall be admitted by the courts of the signatory States.
Article 6
Authors to enjoy rights secured in country of origin for like term The authors or their assigns, citizens or domiciled foreigners, shall enjoy in the signatory countries the rights that the respective laws accord, without those rights being allowed to exceed the term of protection granted in the country of origin.
Works in parts or in several volumes For works comprising several volumes that are not published simultaneously, as well as for bulletins, or parts, or periodical publications, the term of the copyright will commence to run, with respect to each volume, bulletin, part, or periodical publication, from the respective date of its publication.
Article 7
Country of first publication country of origin The country of origin of a work will be deemed that of its first publication in America, and if it shall have appeared simultaneously in several of the signatory countries, that which fixes the shortest period of protection.
Article 8
Subsequent editions non-copyright A work which was not originally copyrighted shall not be entitled to copyright in subsequent editions.
Article 9
Translation protected Authorized translations shall be protected in the same manner as original works.
Translators of works concerning which no right of guaranteed property exists, or the guaranteed copyright of which may have been extinguished, may obtain for their translations the rights of property set forth in Article 3d but they shall not prevent the publication of other translations of the same work.
Article 10
Addresses Addresses or discourses delivered or read before deliberative assemblies, courts of justice, or at public meetings may be printed in the daily press without the necessity of any authorization, with due regard, however, to the provisions of the domestic legislation of each nation.
Article 11
Newspaper
articles
Literary, scientific, or artistic writings, whatever may be their subjects, published in newspapers or magazines in any one of the countries of the Union, shall not be reproduced in the other countries without the consent of the authors. With the exception of the works mentioned, any article in a newspaper may be reprinted by others if it has not been expressly prohibited, but in every case the source from which it is taken must be cited.
Newspaper
news
News and miscellaneous items published merely for general information do not enjoy protection under this convention.
Article 12
Fragments
of literary
or artistic
works
The reproduction of extracts from literary or artistic publications for the purpose of instruction or chrestomathy does not confer any right of property, and may, therefore, be freely made in all the signatory countries.
Article 13
Infringe-
ments
defined
The indirect appropriation of unauthorized parts of a literary or artistic work having no original character shall be deemed an illicit reproduction, in so far as affects civil liability.
Article 14
Fraudulent
copies to be
seques-
trated, etc.
Every publication infringing a copyright may be confiscated in the signatory countries in which the original work had the right to be legally protected, without prejudice to the indemnities or penalties which the counterfeiters may have incurred according to the laws of the country in which the fraud may have been committed.
Article 15
Each gov-
ernment to
exercise
supervision
Each of the Governments of the signatory countries shall retain the right to permit, inspect, or prohibit the circulation, representation, or exhibition of works or productions, concerning which the proper authority may have to exercise that right.
Article 16
Convention
to take effect
three
months after
ratification
The present convention shall become operative between the signatory States which ratify it three months after they shall have communicated their ratification to the Argentine Government, and it shall remain in force among them until a year after the date, when it maybe denounced. This denunciation shall be addressed to the Argentine Government and shall be without force except with respect to the country making it.
Signed at
Buenos
Aires
Aug. 11, 1910
Made and signed in the city of Buenos Aires on the eleventh day of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and ten, in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French, and deposited in the ministry of foreign affairs of the Argentine Republic, in order that certified copies be made for transmission to each one of the signatory nations through the appropriate diplomatic channels.
The convention was thus signed by representatives of twenty powers: the United States of America, Argentine Republic, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Salvador, Uruguay and Venezuela.