|
The copyright law of Switzerland is based on the concept of "author's rights" (''Urheberrecht'' in German, ''droit d'auteur'' in French, ''diritto d'autore'' in Italian), which is similar to the French copyright law, instead of the concept of Copyright used in common law jurisdictions. The current copyright law of Switzerland is the ''Swiss Federal Copyright Act of 1992'', which dates from October 9, 1992 and has only seen minor revisions since then. In October 2007, a revision was approved in order to implement the WIPO Copyright Treaty in the act, a process started in 2004 with the release by the Swiss Federal Council of a draft project.〔See the (Legal information ) page at the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.〕 Copyrights in Swiss law last for 70 years after the death of the author (50 years after the death of the author for computer programs). All "works" in the sense of the law, i.e. "creations of the mind, literary or artistic, that have an individual character"〔(Art. 2 par. 1 URG ).〕 are automatically protected by copyright, irrespective of whether copyright is asserted or not, but provided that it passes the threshold of originality necessary to constitute a protected work. In the case of photographs, the level of protection has been defined in two decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, the “Bob Marley” case (2003) and the “Meili” case (2004).〔See the list of authorities ''supra'' for citations.〕 Certain documents are specifically excluded from benefiting from copyright protection in Switzerland; they are mostly official documents, such as laws or ordinances, or pieces of currency, but patents or patent applications are also excluded from protection. These exceptions are covered in detail below. == History == Although first theoretic publications about copyright in Switzerland date back to 1738,〔Rehbinder, p. 32; mentioning the dissertation of Johann Rudolf Thurneisen, ''Dissertatio juridica inauguralis de recursione librorum furtiva, zu Teutsch dem unerlaubten Büchernachdruck'', Basel, 1738. Thurneisen already suggested an international treaty by which countries should protect each others copyrights based on reciprocity.〕 the topic remained unregulated by law until the 19th century. The first copyright legislation in Switzerland was introduced during the times of the French occupation in the Napoleonic era. Geneva, which joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1815, kept the French legislation (a law that dated to 1793) and thus became the first canton to have a copyright law. The first copyright law developed locally in Switzerland was that of the canton of Ticino, which became effective on March 20, 1835.〔Rehbinder, p. 32.〕 In the canton of Solothurn, a copyright law entered in force in 1847. The first constitution of Switzerland of 1848 left copyright issues to the cantons;〔Rehbinder, p. 40.〕 only in the revised constitution of 1874 did copyright become an issue of federal legislation.〔Rehbinder, p. 41.〕 The first federal copyright law in Switzerland was passed by the Swiss parliament on April 23, 1883 and entered in force on January 1, 1884.〔Chancellory of the Swiss Confederation: ''(Übersicht fakultative Referenden 1874 - 1900 )''. URL last accessed 2007-08-17.〕 Two years later, Switzerland was a founding member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which became effective on December 5, 1887.〔WIPO: ''( Treaties Database - Contracting Parties: Berne Convention - Switzerland )''. URL last accessed 2007-08-17.〕 The copyright law of 1883 specified a copyright term of 30 years ''p.m.a'' and covered works of literature and the arts (art. 2). The exclusive rights included the right to translate a literary work (art. 1).〔Swiss Federal Law of April 23, 1883 on ''Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und Kunst''; BBl 1883 III 241.〕 In 1922 this first federal copyright law was replaced. The new law was passed by parliament on December 7, 1922 and entered in force on July 1, 1923. It clarified what exactly "works of literature and of the arts" were (art. 1), and extended copyright to include photographic works and collections. The copyright term remained 30 years; pre-existing works that we not covered by the earlier law were now also copyrighted (art. 62). Works that became known to the public only after the death of the author were copyrighted until the shorter of 50 years after the death of the author or 30 years since they became known. The law covered works of the literature and the arts, including scientific works, maps, and photographs.〔Swiss Federal Law of December 7, 1922 on ''Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und Kunst''; BBl 1922 III 960.〕 In 1955, a revision of the 1922 law extended the copyright term from 30 to 50 years. This extension was ''not'' retroactive and applied only to works that were still copyrighted in 1955 (art. 66''bis'').〔Swiss Federal Law of June 24, 1955 on ''Änderung des Bundesgesetzes betreffend das Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und Kunst''; BBl 1955 I 1137.〕 Already three years later, work on an omnibus revision of the law was begun, but it took more than 30 years to complete this project until in 1992 a new copyright law was passed. It entered in force on July 1, 1993 and extended the copyright term again non-retroactively to 70 years.〔''Bloch''.〕 In 2004, another revision of the Swiss copyright law was begun with the goal of making the law compliant with the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT).〔Institut für geistiges Eigentum (IGE, Swiss Copyright Office): ''(''Urheberrecht'' ). URL last accessed 2007-08-17.〕 It was finally approved by both chambers of the Swiss parliament on October 5, 2007. At the same time, the parliament also ratified the Swiss adherence to the WCT and the WPPT.〔Proceedings of the Swiss parliament: (Final vote ) of the ''Ständerat''; (Final vote ) of the ''Nationalrat''; ''(Bundesbeschluss über die Genehmigung von zwei Abkommen der Weltorganisation für geistiges Eigentum und über die Änderung des Urheberrechtsgesetzes )'' (Text of the decree ratifying the WCT and the WPPT; in German); ''(Änderung des Bundesgesetzes über das Urheberrecht und verwandte Schutzrechte )'' (Text of the changes to the 1992 copyright law; in German). URLs last accessed 2007-10-09.〕 The revised law entered in force on July 1, 2008.〔(Neues Urheberrecht: was ändert sich? ), DRS, podcast from July 4, 2008.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Copyright law of Switzerland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|