Berne Convention

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is an international copyright treaty adopted at Berne on 9 September 1886. It deals with the protection of works and the rights of their authors, giving creators such as authors, musicians, poets and painters the means to control how their works are used, by whom and on what terms. It rests on three basic principles, contains a series of provisions fixing the minimum protection to be granted, and includes special provisions that developing countries may use. The text has been completed and revised several times: the Paris Additional Act of 1896, the Berlin Act of 1908, the Berne Additional Protocol of 1914, the Rome Act of 1928, the Brussels Act of 1948, the Stockholm Act of 1967 and the Paris Act of 1971, with an amendment on 28 September 1979. WIPO administers the treaty and lists its contracting parties as members of the Berne Union.