Membership, Territory, and Application of the Berne Convention and Later Agreements (The Final Clauses)

This chapter examines the ‘final clauses’ of the Berne Convention and the later agreements. These cover a miscellany of matters, but are primarily concerned with questions of Union membership (eligibility and obligations) and the territorial application of each convention. The matter of membership raises some complex issues of international law, particularly in relation to the question of state succession. The relevant articles of the Paris Act which regulate these questions are: article 28, which is concerned with ratification of the Act by existing members of the Union; article 29, which is concerned with accessions by non-Union states; article 30, which deals with the reservations that may be made by countries ratifying or acceding to the Act; article 31, which is concerned with the application of the Act to dependent territories; and article 35, which is concerned with denunciations of the Convention. As it is the oldest of the conventions, most of the chapter’s discussion focuses on the Berne Convention, but interesting issues also arise with respect to those conventions of the ‘beyond Berne’ category, namely the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty (WCT); the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT); the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 1994 (TRIPs Agreement); and the Marrakesh and Beijing Treaties.