Law Commons^™

One Hundred And Two Years Later: The U.S. Joins The Berne Convention, Jane C. Ginsburg, John M. Kernochan

Faculty Scholarship

In historic votes on October 5 and October 12, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation designed to bring U.S. law into compliance with the Berne Convention. The legislation was signed by President Reagan on October 31, 1988. Also signed by the President was a Senate Resolution of October 20 of Ratification of the Berne Convention. Following deposit of the requisite instruments with the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, U.S. adherence to Berne took effect on March 1, 1989.

For the U.S., this momentous step is the culmination of decades of struggle, including many failed attempts …

Colors In Conflicts: Moral Rights And The Foreign Exploitation Of Colorized U.S. Motion Pictures, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores an international aspect of the current debate over colorized motion pictures. Under the present U.S. copyright law, most film directors and other creative contributors to an audiovisual work are unlikely to obtain injunctive relief from a U.S. court against the exhibition or dissemination of color-encoded versions of black and white originals. The difficulty is not simply that the U.S. copyright law does not recognize a specific moral right of integrity independent of economic rights. The director's poor domestic prospects are largely due to U.S. copyright law's work-made-for-hire doctrine. Most contributors to an audiovisual work are employees for …