International and Municipal Laws governing ISP Copyright Infringement: An Overview

The Berne Convention

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, or the Berne
Convention, is the oldest international agreement governing copyright, first accepted in Berne,
Switzerland, in 1886. Article 1 of the Convention established a Union of Member States of the
Convention, with the aim of protecting the rights of creators of literary and artistic
works. The Convention also established an administrative secretariat known as the
International Bureau WIPO. This secretariat later amalgamated with the secretariat
established by the Paris Convention and the resulting combined secretariat later
became the World Intellectual Property Organization (hereinafter referred to as WIPO).
Works protected
The expression literary and artistic works is defined as including every production in the
literary, scientific and artistic domain, irrespective of the mode or form of the productions
expression. This expression is general in the sense that it encompasses every original
work of authorship, regardless of the works literary or artistic merit.
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
The TRIPS Agreement, which came into effect on 1 January 1995, is the most comprehensive
multilateral agreement on intellectual property, administered by the World Trade Organization
(WTO) that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation
as applied to nationals of other WTO Members.
The areas of intellectual property that it covers are: copyright and related rights (i.e. the rights of
performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations); trademarks
including service marks; geographical indications including appellations of origin; industrial
designs; patents including the protection of new varieties of plants; the layout-designs of
integrated circuits; and undisclosed information including trade secrets and test data.
According to the WTO (2016), the main features of the agreement are as follows:
Standards. In respect of each of the main areas of intellectual property covered by the TRIPS
Agreement, the Agreement sets out the minimum standards of protection to be provided by
each Member. Each of the main elements of protection is defined, namely the subject-matter to
be protected, the rights to be conferred and permissible exceptions to those rights, and the
minimum duration of protection. The Agreement sets these standards by requiring, first, that the
substantive obligations of the main conventions of the WIPO, the Paris Convention for the
Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention) and the Berne Convention for the Protection
of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention) in their most recent versions, must be
complied with. With the exception of the provisions of the Berne Convention on moral rights, all
the main substantive provisions of these conventions are incorporated by reference and thus
become obligations under the TRIPS Agreement between TRIPS Member countries. The
relevant provisions are to be found in Articles 2.1 and 9.1 of the TRIPS Agreement, which relate,
respectively, to the Paris Convention and to the Berne Convention. Secondly, the TRIPS
Agreement adds a substantial number of additional obligations on matters where the preexisting conventions are silent or were seen as being inadequate. The TRIPS Agreement is thus
sometimes referred to as a Berne and Paris-plus agreement.

Enforcement. The second main set of provisions deals with domestic procedures and remedies
for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement lays down certain general
principles applicable to all IPR enforcement procedures. In addition, it contains provisions on
civil and administrative procedures and remedies, provisional measures, special requirements
related to border measures and criminal procedures, which specify, in a certain amount of detail,
the procedures and remedies that must be available so that right holders can effectively enforce
their rights.
Dispute settlement. The Agreement makes disputes between WTO Members about the
respect of the TRIPS obligations subject to the WTO's dispute settlement procedures.
Note: The Philippines is a signatory to both treaties
The Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (RA8293)
Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines is the Philippine copyright law. The law is partly
based on United States copyright law and the principles of the Berne Convention. This law also
protects patents, trademarks, and other forms of intellectual property.
Protected Works
Works that may be copyrighted is listed from A to Q. While all the classes listed are specifically
for copyrighted material, trademarks and other forms of intellectual property, depending on what
it is, are covered as well. Patents do not have a category.
[1] A: Literature (books, pamphlets, etc.)
B: Periodicals (newspapers, tabloids, magazines, etc.)
C: Public speeches and other public speaking works (speeches, lectures, sermons, etc.)
D: Letters
E: Television or movie scripts, choreography, and entertainment in shows
F: Musical works (lyrics, songs, song arrangements, etc.)
G: Art products (drawings, paintings. sculptures, etc.)
H: Ornamental designs and other forms of applied art (not necessarily industrial designs)
I: Geographical, topographical, architectural, and scientific works (maps, charts, plans, etc.)
J: Scientific and technical drawings
K: Photographs and cinematographic works made in a process similar to photography
L: Audio-visual works and cinematographic works made in a process similar to making audiovisual works
M: Pictures used in advertising (includes logos)
N: Computer programs
O: Other works not covered in classes A-N of a literary, scholarly, scientific, or artistic nature
P: Sound recordings
Q: Broadcasts