RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE IP/Q/USA/1/Add.2
17November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5045)
Original: English Council forTrade-Related Aspects
ofIntellectual Property Rights
REVIEW OFLEGISLATION ONCOPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS
United States
Addendum
Bymeans ofacommunication fromthePermanent Mission oftheUnited States totheWTO,
dated 6November 1997, theSecretariat hasreceived thefollowing response toafollow-up question
Korea hadputtotheUnited States inthecontext ofthefollow-up tothereview oflegislation oncopyright
andrelated rights attheCouncil 'smeeting of22to25July1996.
_______________
REPLY TOQUESTION POSED BYKOREA
According topoint (iii)oftheUSanswer1,itseems thattheprotection ofworks which were
published before 1922would notberestored under theUSCopyright Act,eventhough theirauthors,
nationals ofother WTO Members, diedafter1947 orlessthan50years ago,andeventhough they
meetthecriteria provided fortherestoration ofcopyright under thesame Act.Ifthisisthecase, how
cantheUSCopyright Actbeexplained inconnection withArticle 9oftheTRIPS Agreement and
Article 18oftheBerne Convention?
Asstated inourprevious response toquestion 10from theEuropean Communities andtheir
Member States andresponses tofollow-up questions tothatresponse fromtheEuropean Communities
andtheirMember States andKorea2,theUSCopyright Actprovides atermofprotection forrestored
works thatisequivalent toandconsistent withthatrequired bytheTRIPS Agreement andtheBerne
Convention. Inmany cases, including theexample referred toinpoint(i)ofthereplytoKorea 'sfollow-
upquestion, thetermofprotection willbelonger thantheminimum required.
1SeetheUnited States 'reply tothefollow-up question posed byKorea indocument IP/Q/USA/1/Add.1, p.6.
2SeetheUnited States 'replies toquestion 10andthefollow-up question thereto posed bytheEuropean Communities
andtheir Member States indocument IP/Q/USA/1, p.11-12, andthereply tothequestion posed byKorea indocument
IP/Q/USA/1, p.18.