WORLD TRADE WT/DS115/2
ORGANIZATION 12January 1998
(98-0089)
Original: English
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES -MEASURES AFFECTING THE
GRANT OFCOPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS
Request fortheEstablishment ofaPanel bytheUnited States
Thefollowing communication, dated 9January 1998, from thePermanent Mission ofthe
United States totheChairman oftheDispute Settlement Body, iscirculated pursuant toArticle 6.2
oftheDSU.
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AlldevelopedcountryMembersoftheWorldTradeOrganization(WTO)arecurrentlyobligated
toprovide copyright andneighbouring rights inaccordance withSection 1ofPartII,andtherelated
provisions inArticle 70,oftheAgreement onTrade-Related Aspects ofIntellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS Agreement). Such Members arealsoobligated tocomply withtheenforcement provisions
inSections 1,2and5ofPartIIIoftheTRIPS Agreement.
Ireland andtheEuropean Communities wereobligated toimplement theprovisions oftheTRIPS
Agreement asof1January 1996. Thelegalregime inIreland, however, doesnotcomply fullywith
theobligations described inArticles 9,13,14,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,61,65and70ofthe
TRIPS Agreement. Inaddition, totheextent thatIreland andtheEuropean Communities haveadopted
measures toimplement Articles 9,13,14,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,61,65and70oftheTRIPS
Agreement, buthavenotpublished suchmeasures ornotified them totheCouncil forTRIPS, they
havefailed tocomply withArticle 63oftheTRIPS Agreement.
Article 9oftheTRIPS Agreement establishes therelationship oftheTRIPS Agreement tothe
Paris ActoftheBerne Convention fortheProtection ofLiterary andArtistic Works of24July1971
(Berne Convention), andrequires thatMembers comply withArticles 1through 21oftheBerne
Convention andtheAppendix thereto, withtheexception ofArticle 6bisofthatConvention. The
legalregime inIreland failstocomply withArticle 9oftheTRIPS Agreement because itisinconsistent
withtheBerne Convention invarious respects. Forexample, thelegalregime inIreland doesnotcover
translations ofofficial works, protection ofarchitectural works, anonymous andpseudonymous works,
ownership ofrights infilm,andtherecognition ofbodies established toprotect therights ofunknown
authors ofunpublished works.
Under theTRIPS Agreement, Members mustconfine limitations andexceptions toexclusive
rights required under Section 1ofPartII“tocertain special cases which donotconflict withanormal
exploitation ofthework anddonotunreasonably prejudice thelegitimate interests oftherightholder ”.
Under thelegal regime inIreland, theexceptions toright holders ’exclusive rights exceed those
permissible under Article 13oftheTRIPS Agreement.
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InArticle 14,theTRIPS Agreement contains requirements regarding thegrant ofrental rights
toproducers ofphonograms andanyother rightholder inphonograms. Thelegalregime inIreland
isnotconsistent withthisprovision.
Thelegalregime inIreland doesnotprovide civilremedies withrespect totheunauthorized
making ofphonograms orcinematographic films fromaperformance andtheunauthorized broadcast
ofsuchperformance. Thelegalregime inIreland isthusinconsistent withSections 1and2ofPartIII
oftheTRIPS Agreement.
Under Article 61oftheTRIPS Agreement, members must provide forcriminal procedures
andpenalties tobeapplied incases ofcopyright piracy onacommercial scale. Remedies available
mustinclude“imprisonmentand/ormonetaryfinessufficienttoprovideadeterrent...”.UnderArticle41
oftheTRIPS Agreement, members must ensure thattheenforcement procedures specified inthe
Agreement areavailable under theirlawsoasto“permit effective action against anyactofinfringement
ofintellectual property rights ”covered bytheTRIPS Agreement, including “remedies which constitute
adeterrent tofurther infringements ”.Thecriminal finesandterms ofimprisonment available under
thelegalregime inIreland areinsufficient toprovide aneffective deterrent against copyright piracy
inIreland.
Thelegalregime inIreland alsodoesnotprovide adequate protection topreexisting works,
phonograms, andperformances forafulltermofprotection. Inthisrespect, thelegalregime inIreland
isinconsistent withArticles 9,12,14and70oftheTRIPS Agreement.
Inacommunication dated 6January 1998, theUnited States requested consultations withthe
European Communities pursuant toArticle 4oftheUnderstanding onRules andProcedures Governing
theSettlementofDisputes(DSU)andArticle64oftheTRIPSAgreementtotheextentthatitincorporates
byreference Article XXIII oftheGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade 1994. Consultations were
heldon9January 1998. After these consultations, theUnited States andtheEuropean Communities
jointly considered that,forpurposes ofthelastsentence ofArticle 4.7oftheDSU, theconsultations
hadfailed tosettle thedispute.
Accordingly, theUnited States respectfully requests theestablishment ofapanel toexamine
thismatter inlightoftheTRIPS Agreement, andtofindthatthelegalregime inIreland failstoconform
totheobligations inArticles 9,13,14,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,61,63,65and70oftheTRIPS
Agreement, andnullifies orimpairs benefits accruing directly orindirectly totheUnited States under
theTRIPS Agreement.
TheUnited States asksthatthisrequest beplaced ontheagenda forthemeeting oftheDispute
Settlement Body scheduled tobeheldon22January 1998andthatthepanel beestablished withstandard
terms ofreference assetoutinArticle 7oftheDSU.
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