The National Law Center is a non-profit 501(c)(3) Research and Educational Corporation. © Copyright, 1996
Baker & McKenzie
Antonella D Sciubba (Caracas)
(58-2)953-0833
The law approving the Paris Revision of the Universal Copyrights Convention of 24 July 1971 was published in Official Gazette No. 35,820 dated 19 October 1995. The revision made minor amendments to the number of representatives comprising the Committees and in the rules for adhesion to the Convention for States that are not parties to the 1952 Geneva Convention. It also sets forth several exceptions available to developing countries, such as:
(i) Any national of a treaty State may obtain from the authorities of that State a compensated, non-exclusive license to translate or publish a work in the national's language three years after date of first publication (or a longer term, depending on national legislation) provided that a translation into the official language of the State has not yet been published. If the language in question is not of general use in one or more developed countries, the term will be one year. The license may be granted only if the applicant proves that the applicant was unsuccessful in locating the holder of the rights in order to obtain the holder's authorization. The publication license will be valid within the territory of the State and may be fairly used for educational and research purposes. The previous Convention Revision set forth a minimum term of seven years for granting the license.
(ii) The holder of the right to reproduce a literary, scientific or artistic work that has not yet been released for sale in a State may grant compensated, non-exclusive licenses for reproduction provided the applicant was unsuccessful in finding the holder of the right or in obtaining authorization. The term will be five years for all works, except for exact and natural sciences and technology, for which the term will be three years. For works of fiction, such as novels, poetry, drama, musicals and art books, the term will be seven years. These licenses may be granted only within the territory of the State in which the request has been filed.
Resolution No. 281 of the Ministry of Justice, dated 12 September 1995 (Official Gazette No. 35,799 dated 19 September 1995), authorizes the National Autonomous Copyrights Service to carry out its mandate, except for registration of intellectual property, which for the time being will continue to be registered in Civil Registries.
The information contained in this article should not form the basis of any decision as to a particular course of action; nor should it be relied on as legal advice or regarded as a substitute for detailed advice in individual cases.
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