Berne leniencies: now it's Bangladesh's turn to opt for them

The trend towards making use of the relaxations of copyright, provided by the Berne Convention's 1971 Appendix, continues. By Berne Notification No. 269: Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works we learn that Bangladesh is following in the recent footsteps of Thailand, Vietnam and the UAE (Yemen having also renewed this facility). For those who enjoy the pomp and circumstance of formal diplomatic circumlocution, the notification reads like this:

Declaration by the People's Republic of Bangladesh

The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to refer to the deposit by the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, on February 4, 1999, of its instrument of accession to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of September 9, 1886, as revised at Paris on July 24, 1971 (see Berne Notification No. 200).

In this respect, the Director General has the honor to notify the deposit, on September 5, 2014, by the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh of the following declaration:

- "Pursuant to Article I of the Appendix of the Paris Act of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of September 9, 1886, as revised at Paris on July 24, 1971, this state will avail itself of the facilities provided for in Articles II and III of the said Appendix during the 10-year period that will expire on October 2024."

The said declaration shall enter into force, with respect to the territory of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, on December 5, 2014.

To remind readers, Article II of the Appendix deals with leniences in relation to the translations of certain works, while Article III deals with leniencies in regard to reproductions.

Now Thailand, Vietnam and the UAE avail themselves of Berne Appendix

Last week this blog recorded the renewal by Yemen of its declaration relating to the renewal of its facility to take advantage of Articles II and III of the Appendix to the Berne Convention's Paris Act of 1971. A week later, from Berne Notification No.264, we learn from WIPO that Thailand has declared that it is renewing its decision to avail itself of Article II for a further decade. That's not all: Vietnam has renewed its Article II and Article III rights according to Berne Notification No.265, as have the United Arab Emirates -- apparently one of the world's richer jurisdictions -- under Berne Notification No.266.

Yemen renews Berne Appendix declaration

This blogger today received Berne Notification No. 263, a media release relating to a declaration by the Republic of Yemen Relating to Articles II and III of the Appendix to the Paris Act (1971). His first thought was that this must be the first time that Yemen has been mentioned in the 1709 Blog (but it isn't: see here).  His second thought was that it was a very long time since he has spotted any activity relating to Articles II and III of Berne's 1971 Appendix.  The text of the media release is as follows:

The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to refer to the deposit by the Government of the Republic of Yemen, on April 14, 2008, of a declaration that the Republic of Yemen avails itself of the faculties provided for in Articles II and III of the Appendix to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of September 9, 1886, as revised at Paris on July 24, 1971 (“Paris Act (1971)”).

The Director General of WIPO has the honor to notify that the Government of the Republic of Yemen deposited, on July 7, 2014, a notification renewing the said declaration for a period of ten years with effect from October 10, 2014, in accordance with Article I, paragraph 2(a) of the Appendix to the Paris Act.

The 1971 Appendix, mirrored by provisions to similar effect in the Universal Copyright Convention (Articles Vter and Vquater), provides for developing countries to avail themselves of certain leniences in the field of copyright. Article II limits the right of translation, Article III the right of reproduction.