Power and Development
Power and Development

The Revision Conferences of 1967 and 1971 of the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention

Author(s): Jonas Görtz
Subject(s): Civil Law, International Law, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today)
Published by: Central European University Press
Keywords: copyright and patent right;intellectual property;
Summary/Abstract: The research interest of the present analysis, therefore, lies in the specific interests of the various historical stakeholders. How and why were the regulations of the international copyright regimes linked to international policies of developmental aid? How did the negotiations between the early 1960s and the revision conference in Paris in 1971 impact on international copyright regimes? Is it valid to speak of their “politicization”? Are the negotiations between developing and developed countries, between private, public and state stakeholders in the respective period merely an episode within a larger process of IPR “expansion,” as postulated by some? And finally, what are the roles of national institutions and international epistemic communities within these processes? Cultural and social historians have only started analyzing IPR in the past few years. The period between 1945 and the 1990s has certainly been somewhat overlooked. This analysis intends to help fill the gap by taking a brief glance at the events and processes of the 1960s. It is roughly divided into three parts: The first part deals with a number of smaller meetings and conferences leading up to the revision conference in Stockholm in 1967. Part two will take a closer look at the constellations and conflicts revealed by that conference, while the third part discusses the short period leading up to the revision conference of 1971 in Paris, where interim compromises and dispositions in the disputes were inscribed into both the BC und the UCC. The year 1971, therefore, forms an initial hiatus in the development of international copyright regimes and serves as the focal point for this discussion.

• Details
• Contents