Critically Discuss the Continued Relevance of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886)

Abstract

This essay is divided into 4 parts of discussion, reflecting the contribution of Berne Convention over the years in the protecting of intellectual work internationally. Part I is a brief description of History of the convention, how it come into existence and the challenges around it. Part II is about the relevance and presence of the convention in different countries. This part also elaborates on the tensions and challenges which these nations faced in order to connect the convention with domestic laws and needs of their respective citizens. This, part of the essay also addresses the critical question, despite this convention being a big success, why some developing countries and developed country like the U.S, took so long to adopt it. Part III explains the challenges of Taiwan which has not signed the Berne Convention till date. Part IV is analysis of the fact whether this convention holds any importance in today’s time. This has been done by looking at relatively resent and famous cases, since the existence of the Berne Convention. Despite concluding that convention holds a lot of importance even today, this part raises a very important issue on one of the main principle of the Berne Convention i.e. the member nation has to protect the works of other members of the union in the same manner as it protects intellectual works of their own authors. The issue is, how can a judicial body of a country which is influenced and runs according to domestic laws of that very country, decide and justify matter form a different country.