Copyright Boundaries

[tcepsa]

Are copyrights internationally recognized? If so, how are they enforced? Or are they not, and that's why we have so many bootleg versions of movies from places like China?

Comments

[medusa13.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly from library school, there is no such thing as an international copyright law.

See useful gov't document here: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ38a.html

[grail76.livejournal.com]

Copyright is a law in the U.S.
Outside of the U.S. it's handled by conventions. This gets wildly complicated because "Fair use," means one thing here and another (by law) somewhere else.

International agreements are only worth what you make them. (We've signed the Geneva Convention on treatment of prisoners and you notice the Convention Police have not come to snap the cuffs on anyone.)

China has agreed to abide by copyright. They just don't do it.

[firecracker-fem.livejournal.com]

I actually wrote a paper on the subject. Each country has its own copyright laws, and they can prosecute you for breaking them, they just have to do it in thier own country. Yeah, you would have to go THERE for them to sue you. The Berne convention dealt with protecting copyrights nationally. The United States is in partial agreement, but most of Europe cooperates on the subject. Our non compliance deals with not giving the original artists as many rights when they sell thier work. visit www.wipo.org for more info.

ha, that law class was good for something.

[firecracker-fem.livejournal.com]

err, internationally I mean - Berne convention was for international copyrights