We have recently witnessed the great Indian Copyright Amendment Bill being passed in the parliament this year and the kind of felicitation it received from the artists, musicians, performers and writers community in India. The life long and equal royalty issues have been the crux of the arguments. In the background of this topic, there are many other significant international treaties protecting the copyrights, broadcasters rights, performers rights and phonogram producers rights worldwide. Some of them are stated as under:
Berne Convention: India is a contracting party to Berne Convention since 1st April 1928 Berne Convention protects the literary and artistic works of all the member contracting states. The protection also extends to Cinematographic Works, Works of Architecture and Certain Artistic Works. Under Article 5 of the Berne convention :
“Authors shall enjoy, in respect of works for which they are protected under this Convention, in countries of the Union other than the country of origin, the rights which their respective laws do now or may hereafter grant to their nationals, as well as the rights specially granted by this Convention…”
Rome Convention: India is also a contracting party to this convention since 1961. Rome Convention extends protection to “related rights” like performances of performers, producers of phonograms and broadcasters. Protection under this convention lasts for a period of 20 years computed from the end of year during which such work is fixed.
“ Protection must last at least until the end of a period of 20 years computed from the end of the year in which: (a) the fixation was made, for phonograms and for performances incorporated therein; (b) the performance took place, for performances not incorporated in phonograms; (c) the broadcast took place, for broadcasts……”
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT): Although India is not a contracting party to this treaty, the treaty was adopted in Geneva on December 20, 1996. This treaty aims at protecting the rights of performers and producers of phonograms in a uniform and efficient manner. Article 15 of the treaty talks about equitable remuneration assigned to performers and producers of phonograms.
“Performers and producers of phonograms shall enjoy the right to a single equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of phonograms published for commercial purposes for broadcasting or for any communication to the public…”
Hence these were some notable treaties and conventions for internationally protecting the copyrights and related rights of performers, authors, broadcasters and phonogram producers. It is worthwhile to notice the provisions and rights extended under these conventions to value your creative works.
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