WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/302/Add.2
21 May 2003
(03-2720)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  French
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
Responses from Cameroon to the Questions Posed by the European Communities
and their Member States and to the Additional
Questions Posed by the United States
Addendum
By means of a communication from the Permanent Mission of Cameroon, dated 6 May 2003,
the Secretariat has received the following responses to the questions posed by the European
Communities and their member States and the United States, which were circulated in documents
IP/C/W/244 and IP/C/W/240 respectively.
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THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND THEIR MEMBER STATES
A. COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS
2. Please state how your legislation provides for the protection of the exclusive rights of
authors in relation to their literary and artistic  works, as specified in Article 9 of the TRIPS
Agreement which requires Members to comply with  Articles 1-21 of the Berne Convention and
the Appendix to the B erne Convention (1971)).
Article 3 of Law No. 2000/011 of 19 December 2000 on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights
contains a non-exhaustive list of literary and artistic works protected under its copyright provisions.
Article 13 gives authors moral and patrimonial rights over their literary and artistic works.
Article 15 stipulates that the patrimonial implications of copyright comprise the exclusive right of the
author to use or authorize the use of his work in any form whatsoever and to obtain monetary
advantage therefrom.  Article 15(2) specifies that the exploitation right comprises representation,reproduction, transformation, and distribution rights and droit de suite  (author's right to share in the
proceeds of any sale of his work) (see Articles 16 to 20).
3. Please describe the protection accorded to authors of computer programs, databases or
compilations of data.
Article 3(1)(a) protects computer programs along with other literary works.  Databases or
compilations of data are protected under Article 4(2)(b) as composite works.  The exception of private
copying does not apply to the reproduction of databases and software, except in the cases provided for
in Article 36.IP/C/W/302/Add.2
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4. Please state whether your legislation provides for a rental right and, if so, the works to
which it applies.
Articles 15 and 19 provide for a rental right that applies to any literary or artistic work.
5. Please describe the rights granted to performers, producers of phonograms (sound
recordings) and broadcasting organizations under your legislation.
The rights of performers, producers of phonograms and broadcasting organizations are
protected under Part III of the Law.
The performer has the exclusive right to carry out or authorize the following acts:(a) The communication of his performance to the public, including the supply of his
performance recorded on a phonogram or videogram to the public through cable or
wireless means, in such a way that members of the public may have access to it from
a place and at a time individually chosen by them, except when such communication:
- is done from a recording or communication of the performance to the public;- is a rebroadcast authorized by the broadcasting organization which first aired
the performance;
(b) the fixation of his unrecorded performance;(c) the reproduction of a recording of his performance;
(d) the distribution of a recording of his performance through sale, exchange, public
rental;
(e) the separate use of the sound and pictures of the performance, where both the sound
and pictures of the latter were recorded.
The performer is entitled to respect for his name, status and performance.  This right, vested
in the performer, is perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible and is assignable in case of death.
The phonogram producer enjoys the exclusive right to undertake or authorize any
reproduction, supply to the public through sale, exchange, rental or communication of the phonogram
to the public, including the supply of the phonogram to the public through cable or wireless means, insuch a way that members of the public may have access to it from a place and at a time individually
chosen by them.
Direct communication in a public place, so long as it is not in a show, the broadcasting on
radio or television or the simultaneous and integral distribution by cable of a phonogram put intocirculation for commercial purposes entitles performers and producers to remuneration.
The broadcasting organization enjoys the exclusive right to carry out or authorize the fixation,
reproduction of the fixation, the rebroadcasting of programmes and the communication of its
programmes to the public, including the supply of the programmes to the public by cable or wirelessmeans, in such a way, that members of the public may have access to them from a place and at a time
individually chosen by them.  The broadcasting organization also enjoys the exclusive right to carry
out or authorize the supply of its programmes to the public through sale, rental or exchange.IP/C/W/302/Add.2
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6. Please state whether your legislation provides  for any limitation or exception in relation
to each of the rights described above in acco rdance with the relevant provisions of the Berne
and Rome Conventions and in light of Articles 13 and 14.6 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Limitations on and exceptions to the exclusive rights of authors and holders of related rights
are laid down in the Law.  As regards copyright, the exceptions relate primarily to private
performances in a family setting;  performances given free of charge for educational purposes;
private copying (with certain reservations);  anal yses, press reviews;  short quotations;  the use of
literary or artistic works as teaching illustration;  parody, pastiche and caricature;  Braille
reproductions for the blind;  reproduction for administrative or judicial purposes;  temporary
reproduction of a work;  free use for information purposes;  free use of pictures of works permanently
located in public places;  and ephemeral recordings by broadcasting organizations.
Article 67 stipulates that holders of related rights may not prohibit performances in a family
setting;  private copying;  analyses and short quotations;  press reviews;  free use for information
purposes;  or parody, pastiche and caricature.
Furthermore, performers may not prohibit the reproduction or public communication of their
performances if they are incidental to an event wh ich is the main subject of an audiovisual sequence,
work or document.
It should be noted that under Article 69, authors and performers of works and recordings
fixed on phonograms or videograms, as well as the producers of these phonograms or videograms, are
entitled to remuneration for reproductions that are for strictly personal and private use.  A similar
provision is made under Article 72 with regard to authors and publishers of printed works.
7. Please state the terms of protection of each right described above and the work or
subject matter to which it applies.
The Law recognizes the author's moral right over his work as perpetual, inalienable and
imprescriptible.
The patrimonial rights of the author are protected during his lifetime and for the 50 years
following his death.  Audiovisual works, works of applied art and collective works are protected for50 years from the end of the calendar year following the authorized publication of the work, or, if it
has not been published, from the date of its creation.
As regards related rights, the performer is entitled to respect for his name, status and
performance.  This right is perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible.
The term of the patrimonial rights of holders of related rights, as specified in Article 68, is
50 years starting from:
- The end of the calendar year of fixation, for phonograms, videograms and the
performances fixed thereon;
- the end of the calendar year of execution, for performances not fixed on a phonogram
or videogram;
- the end of the calendar year of broadcasting, for the programmes of broadcasting
organizations.IP/C/W/302/Add.2
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8. Please state how your legislation grants the retroactive protection provided pursuant to
Article 18 of the Berne Convention (the obligation of which derives from Article  9 of the TRIPS
Agreement) and Article 14.6 of the TRIPS Agreement.
The Law does not contain any specific provision on retroactive protection.  However,
Cameroon is a member of the African Intellec tual Property Organization, whose revised Bangui
Agreement covers literary and artistic property in Annex VII.  This Annex, which entered into force
on 28 February 2002, contains, in Article 66, a provision on retroactive protection in conformity with
Article 18 of the Berne Convention and Article 14.6 of the TRIPS Agreement.
UNITED STATES
A. COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS
7. Article 14.2 of the TRIPS Agreement provides that producers of phonograms are to
enjoy the right to authorize or prohibit the direct or indirect reproduction of their phonograms.
Article 14.2 requires that producers of phonograms are to have the right to authorize orprohibit the commercial rental to the public of originals or copies of their phonograms.  Please
describe how the copyright law of Cameroon impl ements these obligations and indicate the term
of protection.
Under Article 59, producers of phonograms enjoy, amongst other rights, the exclusive right to
undertake or authorize any reproduction of the phonogram, as well as its supply to the public through
rental.
The term of patrimonial rights for phonograms and the performances fixed thereon is 50 years
from the end of the calendar year of fixation.
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