The Berne Convention, 1886

A Marathi novelist publishes her book in Mumbai. A publisher in Paris wants to translate it. Does she have to register her book in France first? Must she follow French formalities? The answer, for most countries of the world, is no, and that is because of a treaty signed in a Swiss city in 1886. The Berne Convention is the reason your copyright travels without a passport, and it shaped much of the Indian Copyright Act.

In two minutes

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, 1886, rests on three principles: national treatment, automatic protection without formalities, and independence of protection from the work’s country of origin; it also sets minimum rights, including moral rights and a minimum term of life plus fifty years.

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