The Journey From The Statute Of Anne To The Berne Convention On Copyright Law: Tracing The Route Of Copyright Exceptions In A Comparative Perspective
- IJLLR Journal
- Aug 12
- 1 min read
Juned Ahmad, PhD Scholar (Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, AMU) Aligarh
ABSTRACT
This paper examines and traces the history of copyright law and its exceptions from the Statute of Anne (1710) to the Berne Convention 1886) by analysing the way copyright evolved from a state of monopoly to exclusive rights of the author and granting copyright exceptions for public interest. It explores the root of copyright law in the form of the Statute of Anne(1710), which marked the first legislation of copyright law, shifting the monopoly from the publishers to authors and fixing the time duration during which rights granted under the statute could be claimed. Subsequently, this paper delves into how copyright exceptions evolved by judicial interpretation in different jurisdictions. The paper also explains the Berne Convention and its important principles, such as the three-step test for copyright exemptions, national treatment, automatic protection of any work and the time duration of copyright. The paper further explains how the USA, UK and India adopted the Berne Convention and its exceptions clause in their domestic legislations. The UK adopted a narrower approach to copyright exceptions by enumerating the situations where copyright holders can not object to the use of the work. On the other hand USA adopted judge-made law, which is based on judicial decisions, and its scope is wider than the approach taken by the UK. As far as India is concerned, it adopted a hybrid model by incorporating actions which are not considered copyright exceptions and also relied on judicial decisions.
Keywords: copyright, fair use, fair dealing, Berne Convention, intellectual property, GATT, TRIPS, Statute of Anne.
