law applies to a video taken by someone from India during their travels in Kenya and then posted to YouTube? What about when that video is watched or downloaded by someone in Canada?
Copyright law is locally implemented by every country around the world. In an effort to minimize complexity, efforts have been undertaken to harmonize some of the basic elements of how copyright works across the globe.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU
When you publish or reuse something online, have you ever thought about what law applies to you? Does it make sense to you that different people should have different limits to what they can do with your work based on their geographic location? Why or why not?
Acquiring Essential Knowledge: Introduction to the Global Copyright System
INTERNATIONAL LAWS
Every country has its own copyright laws, but over the years there has been extensive global harmonization of copyright laws through treaties and multilateral and bilateral trade agreements. These treaties and agreements establish minimum standards for all participating countries, which then enact or amend their own laws in order to conform to the agreed-upon limits. This system leaves room for local variations.
These treaties and agreements are negotiated in various forums: the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and in private negotiations between countries.
One of the most significant international agreements on copyright law is the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the “Berne Convention”), concluded in 1886. The Berne Convention has since been revised and amended on several occasions. WIPO serves as the administrator of the treaty and its revisions and amendments, and is the depository for official instruments of accession to and ratification of the treaty. Today, 177 countries (as of October 17, 2019) have signed the Berne Convention. This treaty (as amended and revised) lays out several fundamental principles upon which all the participating countries have agreed. One of these principles is that copyright must be granted automatically—that is, there must be no legal formalities required to obtain copyright protection (for example, the national laws of the signatories cannot require you to register or pay for your copyright as a con-
