RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE IP/C/W/99
12May1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1874)
Original: French/English1Council forTrade-Related Aspects
ofIntellectual Property Rights
REVIEW OFLEGISLATION ONCOPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS
Replies from Romania toQuestions from theEuropean Communities
andtheirMember States2andJapan3
Thefollowing communication, dated 28April 1998, hasbeenreceived from thePermanent
Mission ofRomania.
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I. REPLIES TOQUESTIONS POSED BYTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND THEIR
MEMBER STATES
1. Article 147oftheRomanian LawonCopyright andNeighbouring Rights provides forcertain
conditions inrelation totheprotection offoreign owners ofcopyright andneighbouring rights. The
previous Article, Article 146,setsoutcertain provisions which arelinked toRomanian citizenship and/or
theterritory ofRomania. Please clarify howthese twoArticles interact andwhether andhowthey
comply withArticle 3inconjunction withArticle 65.2oftheTRIPS Agreement.
Theprovisions oftheRomanian Lawdonotinstitute anydiscrimination among owners of
copyright andneighbouring rights.
Although thetwoArticles inquestion outline some possible situations, Romania benefits from
theprovisions ofArticle 65.2andmust apply theprovisions ofArticle 3oftheTRIPS Agreement,
which italready does. Thenational treatment referred toinArticle 146therefore applies tocitizens
ofanycountry partytoormember ofinternational conventions, treaties oragreements towhich Romania
alsobelongs orisaparty, including theMember countries oftheWTO (even citizens ofWTO Member
countries thatarenotparties totheBerne Convention).
2. Article 14.1 oftheLawonCopyright andNeighbouring Rights provides thattheterm
"reproduction" alsoincludes "themaking ofanaudio-visual recording ofthework". Article 9.1of
theTRIPS Agreement inconjunction withArticle 9.3oftheBerne Convention states that"anysound
orvisual recording shallbeconsidered asareproduction". Against thisbackground, please clarify
1English forthequestions andFrench forthereplies.
2IP/C/W/96.
3IP/C/W/92.IP/C/W/99
Page2
whether asolesound recording orasolevideo recording would beconsidered asareproduction under
Romanian law.
Regrettably there wasatranslation error intheFrench andEnglish versions oftheRomanian
law.
Intheoriginal Romanian version published intheRomanian "Monitorul Oficial", acopyof
which isattached, thedefinition of"reproduction" inArticle 14.1isfullyconsistent withArticles 9.1
oftheTRIPS Agreement and9.3oftheBerne Convention because italsoincludes "anysound orvisual
recording ofawork ...".4
3. Pleaseexplain,whetherandhowcompilationsofdataareprotectedunderlegislation(Article10.2
oftheTRIPS Agreement).
Compilations ofdataareprotected under theLawonCopyright andNeighbouring Rights,
LawNo.8/1996.
Article 8(b)oftheLawprovides thatcollections orcompilations ofmaterial ordata,whether
ornotprotected, including databases, which, byreason oftheselection orarrangement oftheirsubject
matter constitute intellectual creations arealsoprotected bycopyright aspre-existing works without
prejudice totherights oftheauthors oftheoriginal work.
4. Please clarify theeffects ofthedistinction made between digital broadcasting andother types
ofbroadcasting inArticle 38,paragraphs 1and2oftheLawonCopyright andNeighbouring Rights.
Theoriginal version oftheLawonCopyright doesnotdrawanydistinction between theregime
forauthorizing digital broadcasting andother types ofbroadcasting. Article 38(1) provides that
"Authorization tobroadcast awork bywireless means shallalsoconstitute authorization totransmit
thework bywire, cable oranyother similar process ..."subject tocertain conditions, and
subparagraph (2)ofthisArticle stipulates thattheauthorization doesnotcover digital transmission .
Itisnottherefore aquestion ofdigital broadcasting butofdigital transmission .
Thisisaregrettable mistake intheFrench andEnglish translations oftheRomanian Lawwhich,
unfortunately escaped ournotice anddoesnotappear intheoriginal text.4
5. Article85,paragraph2oftheLawonCopyrightandNeighbouringRightsexcludesphotographs
ofletters, deeds, documents ofanykind, technical drawings andother similar material fromthelegal
protection bycopyright. Please explain howthiscomplies withArticle 9oftheTRIPS Agreement in
conjunction withArticle 2,paragraph 1oftheBerne Convention which provides fortheprotection
ofphotographic works, irrespective ofthesubject matter andthepurpose forwhich theyaremade.
Asstated inArticle 7(f)"photographic works andanyother works expressed byaprocess
analogous tophotography" areprotected under theRomanian Law, "regardless oftheirmanner of
creation, specific form ormode ofexpression andindependently oftheirmerit andpurpose", which
isfullyconsistent withArticle 2.1oftheBerne Convention.
4Theprovision initsoriginal language isavailable intheWTO Secretariat forconsultation byinterested delegations.IP/C/W/99
Page3
TheConvention, however, leaves openthepossibility ofrefusing toprotect certain categories
ofphotographs because theymustalsobe"works ofthemind" i.e.theproduct ofintellectual creation,
inthisparticular caseintheartistic field.
Otherwise protection would gotoofar,evenrecognizing copyright forpassport photographs
produced automatically ina"photomat" forexample.
Article 85(2) therefore excludes from protection photographs thatdonotinvolve anyactof
intellectual creation, forexample, photographs ofletters, documents, technical drawings orphotographs
ofother similar material.
6. Article 105oftheLawonCopyright andNeighbouring Rights liststhevarious rights granted
totheproducer ofsound recordings. Please clarify whether andhowsuchaproducer enjoys theright
toauthorize orprohibit theindirect reproduction oftheir phonograms (Article 14.2oftheTRIPS
Agreement).
Article 105oftheLawonCopyright gives theproducer ofasound recording interaliathe
exclusive righttoauthorize thereproduction ofhisownsound recording. TheLawdoesnottherefore
distinguish between direct andindirect reproduction. Consequently, according totheprinciples of
lawandthesaying "ubilexnondistinguit necnosdistinguere debemus ",itcanbeconcluded thatthe
producer 'sexclusive rightcovers alltypes ofreproduction including indirect reproduction.
7. Article 121oftheLawonCopyright andNeighbouring Rights provides that"retransmission
bycable without theconsent oftheowner ofrights andwithout payment ofaremuneration shall be
permitted onlyinthecaseofprograms owned bypublic television andradio broadcasting organizations
ofnationalscopeandalsothoseoftelevisionandradiobroadcastingorganizationsthatareretransmitted
bycable compulsorily inaccordance withregulations inforce". Please explain thescope andmeaning
ofthisprovision.
TitleIIoftheLawdeals withneighbouring rights andChapter Vthereof deals withtelevision
andradio broadcasting organizations. Section 1ofthisChapter concerns theexclusive rights ofthese
organizations.
Article 113(1)(d), forexample, provides thattelevision andradio broadcasting organizations
havetheexclusive economic righttoauthorize "theretransmission oftheirownradio ortelevision
programmes bywireless means, bywire, bycable,bysatellite ...".
Consequently, radiobroadcasting andtelevision organizations, asowners ofneighbouring rights
intheirownprogrammes, must authorize retransmissions bycable byacable operator.
Theprovisions ofArticle 121(4) mean thatsuchorganizations owning neighbouring rights do
nothavetherighttoauthorize cable operators northeeconomic advantage ofexercising thisrightin
twosituations:
(a) Inthecaseofpublic television andradio broadcasting organizations ofnational scope,
foratleastthefollowing tworeasons:
(i) these organizations arefinanced under thebudget andthusareindirectly
financed bythepopulation;IP/C/W/99
Page4
(ii) anyfamily possessing aradio ortelevision setmustpaya"licence fee"which
isdirectly paidtothepublic radio broadcasting andtelevision services.
Inaddition, thepriceofcable transmission services would increase ifcable operators alsohad
topayfortheretransmission ofpublic programmes andthiswould mean thatthefinalusers paidtwice
forthesame programme.
(b) Where theradio broadcasting andtelevision organizations arenotpublic butthe
regulations inforce oblige cable operators toretransmit theirprogrammes there isa
counter-service situation similar tothereciprocal obligations imposed bytheState.
Forthemoment, nosuchregulations areinforce.
II. REPLIES TOQUESTIONS POSED BYJAPAN
1. Please explain whether "computer programs" inArticle 7(a)oftheCopyright LawofRomania,
which provides fortheprotection ofcomputer programs, include programs inbothsource codeand
object codeandplease explain howtheCopyright LawofRomania complies withArticle 10.1ofthe
TRIPS Agreement inthisrespect.
Article7oftheCopyrightLawofRomaniadefinesthesubjectmatterofcopyrightas"...original
works ofintellectual creation intheliterary, artistic orscientific field, regardless oftheirmanner of
creation, specific form ormode ofexpression andindependently oftheirmerit andpurpose ...".
Subparagraph (a)ofArticle 7provides anon-exhaustive listofworks intheliterary fieldthataresubject
tocopyright protection andcomputer programs areincluded inthislistofprotected literary works.
Computer programs arethussubject tothesame legalregime asliterary works, inconformity with
theprovisions ofArticle 10.1oftheTRIPS Agreement.
Inspecial provisions contained inPartIIofTitle IoftheLaw, under Chapter IXentitled
"Computer Programs", Article 72(1) provides that"...theprotection ofcomputer programs includes
anyexpression ofaprogram, application programs andoperating systems expressed inanykindof
language, whether insource codeorobject code...".
2. Please explain whether "collections" inArticle 8(b)oftheCopyright LawofRomania, which
provides fortheprotection ofcollections, include compilations ofdatainmachine-readable formand
please explain howtheCopyright LawofRomania complies withArticle 10.2oftheTRIPS Agreement
inthisrespect.
Asworded, Article 8(b)doesnotdifferentiate between readable forms, ascanbeseenfrom
Article 7under which original works areprotected "regardless oftheirmanner ofcreation, specific
form ormode ofexpression ...".
Nevertheless, inorder tobeprotected, pre-existing works suchascollections orcompilations
ofmaterial ordata,whether ornotprotected, including databases, mustmeetthecriterion oforiginality
andmust"...byreason oftheselection orarrangement oftheirsubject matter, constitute intellectual
creations", asprovided inArticle 8(b).
Consequently, theprovisions ofArticle 7alsoapply tothese "compilations" sotheprotection
of"collections" includes "compilations ofdatainmachine-readable form".IP/C/W/99
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Moreover, Article 14(1) oftheCopyright LawofRomania defines "reproduction" asthemaking
ofoneormore copies ofawork including "...itspermanent ortemporary storage byelectronic
means ".
Itisobvious thatthisform ofstorage ismachine-readable.
Thisprovision, taken together withArticle 7andArticle 8(b),isconsistent withtheprovisions
ofArticle 10.2oftheTRIPS Agreement.
3. Please explain byreferring tospecific provisions inthelegislation ofyourcountry howtextile
designs areprotected inconformity withArticle 25.2oftheTRIPS Agreement. Moreover, please explain
yoursystem orpractice withregard tocost,examination orpublication ensuring thattheopportunity
toseekandobtain protection fortextile designs isnotunreasonably impaired.
Textile, designs andmodels areprotected under aspecial law,LawNo.129/1992 onthe
Protection ofIndustrial Designs, which laysdown theterms ofprotection.
Article7(g)oftheLawonCopyrightandNeighbouringRightsofRomanianeverthelessprovides
that"...works ofartapplied toproducts intended forpractical use"areprotected under copyright.
Asrequired bytheBerne Convention, noformality isrequired inorder tobenefit from this
protection.
According toArticle 1(2)oftheCopyright LawofRomania, works (including thosementioned)
areprotected "...independently of...disclosure tothepublic, simply byvirtue of...creation" even
iftheyarenotfinished. Consequently, there isnoquestion ofcosts, examination orpublication.
Protection under copyright doesnotexclude protection under thespecial Lawandprotection
under bothispossible.
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