WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/INF/178 
30 January 2012 
 (12-0587) 
  
  
 
WTO PUBLICATIONS COPYRIGHT AND ROYALTIES POLICY 
EFFECTIVE AS OF 15 FEBRUARY 2012 
 
 
Contents 
 WTO PUBLICATIONS COPYRIGHT AND ROYALTIES POLICY ............................................ 1  
ANNEX I:   OBJECTIVE OF THE PUBLICATIONS POLICY ....................................................... 6  
ANNEX II:  KE Y TERMS .......................................................................................................... ........ 10  
 
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WTO PUBLICATIONS COPYRIGHT AND ROYALTIES POLICY 
 
The WTO Publications Copyright and Royalties Policy is confirmed as follows. 
 
I. OVERALL OBJECTIVES: 
 Promote widespread access to legal texts, official WTO publications and research materials, 
with a particular focus on developing countri es, with a view to promoting greater public 
awareness and affordable and sustainable access to  the full range of legal, technical, policy 
and statistical information published by the WTO. 
 
 Promote the undertaking and the widespread av ailability of high quality translations of 
official and other WTO publications, including into languages other than  the three official 
languages. 
 
 Preserve the textual integrity and quality of legal texts and other official publications 
published in the name of the WTO. 
 
 Contain demand for in-house resources and publi cations budget, and focus use of existing 
resources to their most productive purposes in line with overall WTO programme directions. 
 
 Strengthen developing country capacity throug h direct involvement in translating and 
publishing WTO publications, including through stronger partnerships with academic and 
other institutions, such as through the WTO Chairs Programme. 
 
 Generate reasonable revenue from commercial sales of publications, to supplement core 
budget and to support the deve lopment and dissemination of further publications.  
 
 Manage demand for in-house resources and co re WTO budget for editing and publications, 
through strategic partnershi ps with academic publishers. WT/INF/178 
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II. COPYRIGHT POLICY 
2.1 Ownership 
 
The WTO will maintain ownership of copyright, to the extent possible and practicable, in the 
publications for which it is primarily responsible , including web-based publications, extracts, and 
translations.  This approach does not flow from any interest in holding copyri ght as an end in itself, 
nor necessarily to impose restrictive licences, but rather  to enable the greatest leverage and flexibility 
in negotiating and undert aking dissemination strategies, including open licensing where appropriate.  
Accordingly, 
 
- In the case of joint publications undertaken w ith partners such as other international 
organizations, the WTO will normally jo intly own copyright with the other 
organizations, subject to adjustment in the light of practical needs. 
 
- Authors and contributors, apart from WTO staff writing in the course of their duties, 
will maintain copyright over their contributi ons, with a licence to the WTO for the use 
of their contribution in the WTO publication concerned (including electronic publication, translation and derivative works).  
 
- The WTO will hold copyright over contributions written by WTO staff in the course 
of their duties;  however, to the extent practicable the WTO will observe moral rights including rights of attributi on (acknowledgement of individual  authors' contributions).  
This approach may be taken, as necessary, for material prepared by independent contractors but paid for by the WTO. 
 2.2 Licensing 
 
(i) WTO website material 
 
All material on the WTO website – unless otherwis e explicitly indicated – will be considered 
available for non-commercial reproduction and distri bution in limited volumes, including educational 
usages, without further permission from the WTO.  Proposals for licences for commercial usage will 
be considered in the light of the overall publica tions policy and subject to existing obligations 
concerning that material.  Commercial usage of  this material would include reproduction of 
substantial portions in a publication offered for sal e or on a website for which access is charged.   
 
Where the website is used to disseminate speci fic categories of publications defined below 
(e.g. electronic texts of flagship or academic publications), the policy relevant to that category of publication would apply.  Generally, the electronic te xt of a distinct hard copy publication (as opposed 
to material published only on the website) will not be available for reproduction other than for private 
non-commercial usage, without a specific licence - for example, the electronic version of the World 
Trade Report  could not be printed in hard copy in  significant quantities and disseminated on a 
commercial scale merely because it is available on th e website, since there is a hard copy version 
already published by the WTO.  An updated copyright notice on the WTO website will advise of these terms.  
A non-commercial licence is gr anted for translations of any material on the WTO website, 
provided that the WTO is provided with a copy of th e translation.  Translations for commercial use of 
substantial portions of material from the website wi ll be subject to the same conditions as apply to 
other commercial usage of website material. 
  WT/INF/178 
 Page 3 
 
 
  (ii) Flagship and other WTO priced publications  
 
Copyright in these publications will continue to be held and exercised in the name of the 
WTO, in view of their clear status as WTO publications.    
Licensing policy.  The main forms of dissemination will be in the form of hard copies and 
web publication approved and administered directly by the WTO.  Licensing of this material will normally be limited to non-commercial uses, so as to promote widespread access and consultation, 
while maintaining a modest revenue flow from their commercial dissemination to support WTO 
publications activities.  Special arrangements (s uch as low-cost editions) may be pursued, where 
possible, to facilitate access to publications by  developing countries and LDCs in particular.  
 
Translations (where not already directly produced by the WTO).  Such translations will be 
actively encouraged under a specific licence for translation and subsequent publication, subject to 
(i) coordination, where appropriate and practicable , through the WTO Chairs Programme, with these 
partner institutions being the preferred option fo r translation projects, to ensure focused and 
sustainable capacity-building and to promote the quality and consistency of WTO-licensed translations  (ii) reasonable supply of hard copi es or digital files for WTO use (and uploading to the 
WTO website, as appropriate) (iii) payment of 6% ro yalties to the WTO (if the translation is to be 
published and distributed commercially).  
Co publications in partnership with academic/commercial publishing house 
 
Copyright would continue to be held in the name of the WTO, in view of their status as WTO 
publications (subject to individual authoria l copyright over particular chapters). 
 
Licensing policy:  Specific licences would be negotiated according to the degree of input provided 
by the different parties, according to the following general provisions:  
- exclusive rights to publisher for hard copy publications, subject to a combination of 
any or all of (i) reasonable royalty to the WTO, with 10% royalties being the reference benchmark (ii) a supply of free copies to the WTO and (iii) possible tiered 
pricing for developing countries or separate developing country editions;   
 
- non-exclusive rights to publisher for electronic (web, e-book) publication, and default 
option of continuing access to material on WTO website (which may be waived only 
if essential for practical publishing agreement), this electronic access being limited to 
non-commercial uses (in line with the ge neral policy on web publications)  
 
Translations: In the case of priced WTO publications, such as academic works and 
guidebooks, that are prepared in partnership with  and published by external publishing houses, the 
first option for translations would be offered to the original publisher (with 6% royalties being the 
reference benchmark), but with clear alternative optio ns in the event the option is not taken up within 
a reasonable period.  In that case, the general pol icy on translations of priced WTO publications 
would apply.  
Co publications in partnership with other international organizations 
 
Copyright would normally be jointly held by th e distinct organizations, with an understanding 
that each organization would be free to exercise that  copyright independently of one another;  subject 
to any adjustment in the light of the policy and practice of partner organizations.   WT/INF/178 
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  Licensing and translation policy would be adjust ed according to mutual agreement, with the 
default approach being the same as for a WT O publication (defined above), depending on the 
categories:  
 WTO/partner priced publication  
 WTO/partner free publication  
 WTO/partner priced publication produced in  partnership with academic/commercial 
publishing house.  
 
(iii) WTO legal texts  
 
Copyright in WTO legal texts will continue to be  held and exercised in the name of the WTO, 
in line with international practice, while recognizi ng that widespread free a ccess to and use of the 
legal texts is vitally important and the practice in  some jurisdictions of excluding legal texts from 
copyright protection.    
Licensing policy.  An open licensing policy would apply to legal texts to ensure as wide as 
possible access, possibly subject to specific provisions for official edited layouts in order to maintain 
their textual integrity as a reference and benchmark.  This policy would permit free use of legal texts 
even in commercial works, subject  to possible agreement to provid e a copy or copies of any such 
works to the WTO as required for technical assi stance activities, provision to institutions in 
developing countries, and/or provision to the WTO library.    
Translations (into other than official languag es).  Free licences would be available for all 
translations of the legal texts into languages other than official WTO languages.  Translators would be 
encouraged to supply such translations to the WT O for possible selective inclusion on a legal texts 
website (as a technical assistance resource without official endorsement).  
(iv) Official WTO documents 
 
Copyright in WTO official documents will continue  to be held and exercised in the name of 
the WTO, in line with international practice, while  recognizing that widespread free access to and use 
of these documents is vitally important.    
Licensing policy.  An open licensing policy would a pply to official documents in part or in 
whole.  This policy would permit their free use even  in commercial works, but publishers of such 
works would be encouraged to offer copies to th e WTO potentially for technical assistance activities, 
provision to institutions in developing countries, a nd/or provision to the WTO library, and would be 
required to agree on such arrangements in the event th at extensive materials were proposed to be used 
from official WTO documents.   
 
Translations (into other than official languag es).  Free licences would be available for all 
translations of official documents into la nguages other than official WTO languages.   
 
(v) Dispute settlement reports 
 
Copyright in dispute settlement reports will conti nue to be held and exercised in the name of 
the WTO.  A distinction is made between: 
 
- panel and Appellate Body reports initially  published in the form of separate WTO 
documents, bearing symbols of the form WT/DS273/R and WT/DS399/AB/R 
('original reports'), and   WT/INF/178 
 Page 5 
 
 
  - the reports as published and formatted in the official series of WTO Dispute 
Settlement Reports, which is published as a legal reference series with distinct 
citations (of the form DSR 2005:XII) thr ough agreement with a leading academic 
publisher ('published reference series').   
 
The original reports, being published in the form  of official documents, would be subject to 
the same standards as apply to official documents in general, as outlined above, while the published 
reference series would be treated in the sa me way as the publications in the category WTO priced 
publications.   
 
(vi) Free WTO publications 
 
Copyright in free WTO publications would be held and exercised in the name of the WTO. 
 
Licensing policy.  General licences would be  limited to non-commercial uses, to promote 
widespread access and consultation, including free and free of charge access on otherwise commercial 
sites.  Any proposed commercial reproduction of free WTO publications would be subject to a 
specific licence.  
Translations (where not directly produced by the WTO) would be actively encouraged under 
specific licences, subject to (i) coordination through WTO Chairs Programme, with partner 
institutions the preferred option for translation pr ojects and others to ensure capacity building and 
quality and consistency of WTO-licensed translations  (ii) reasonable supply of hard copies or digital 
files for WTO use (and uploading, as appropriate) a nd (iii) payment of a reasonable royalty, to be 
based on the benchmark rate of 6%.  III. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLICY 
The Information and External Relations Division (specifically the Publications Manager) will 
be responsible for the implementation of the WT O Publications Copyright and Royalties Policy. 
 WT/INF/178 
Page 6  
 
  ANNEX I:  OBJECTIVE OF THE PUBLICATIONS POLICY 
 
The WTO publication programme has expanded sign ificantly over recent years.  The ways in 
which its users access and make use of WTO publicati ons have also changed and diversified.  The 
needs and expectations of Members continue to  evolve, as do those of the general public and 
particular policy and scholarly communities.  The growing diversity of possi bilities for disseminating 
publications, driven in part by technological deve lopments and new opportunities for access to these 
materials, create new opportunities for access to WTO materials.  The WTO also seeks to serve a 
more diverse and geographically a nd culturally more widely spread public as potential users of its 
publications and other documents. 
 
In the light of this evolving  and diversifying demand, and to respond to the new opportunities 
for information dissemination, this document clarifies the publications policy for the WTO.  It sets out 
the various purposes of the WTO's development and dissemination of new publications, an array of 
complementary purposes that are consistent with an d supportive of the overall goals and mandate of 
the Organization.  This policy provides a framework  for the practical exercise of mechanisms for 
assigning and licensing copyright in original and deri vative works, so as to achieve the goals of the 
publication policy.  
The policy addresses such questions as  
- managing the costs and revenues from WTO publications;  
- authorizing translations (into WTO offici al languages and other languages) and other 
derivative works;  
- building capacity and awareness in developing countries;  
- maintaining integrity and accuracy of le gal texts and official publications; and  
- promoting the diffusion of texts and publicati ons for open access and public benefit.   
 
I. SCOPE OF THE PUBLICATIONS POLICY 
The WTO produces directly, or is involved in th e production of, a wide range of publications, 
which can be distinguished according to various factors: 
 
- the degree of direct WTO sponsorship,  
- the role of and contribution of an external publisher, and  
- the participation of other parties in the authorship, editing and production of 
publications. 
 
The main categories of publications are: 
 
WTO Flagship publications, published by and in the name of the WTO, and serving as a 
central means of mitigating the work of the Organi zation to Members and the public in general.   
 
 These include the Annual Report, the Internati onal Trade Statistics, and the World Trade 
Report  
 
Other WTO priced publications, also published by  and in the name of the WTO, which are 
intended to serve more specific needs.    
 Examples include the WTO legal texts, Dispute Settlement: One-Page Case Summaries,  
Trade Profiles, and World Tariff Profiles. 
  WT/INF/178 
 Page 7 
 
 
  WTO co-publications, published by and in the na me of the WTO, but in partnership either 
with another international organiza tion or academic publishing house.   
 
 Examples of those which represent partnerships w ith other international organizations include 
Aid for Trade at a Glance (OECD), Globalization and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries 
(ILO), and WTO Agreements & Public Health (WHO). 
 
 Examples of those which are published by the WTO in cooperation with academic publishing 
houses are numerous but include, with Cambridge  University Press, Dictionary of Trade 
Policy Terms, Dispute Settlement Reports, The First Ten Years of the WTO, the Handbook series, the WTO Analytical Index and the WT O Appellate Body Repe rtory of Reports and 
Awards. 
 
Free publications, published directly by the WTO, and distributed without charge. 
 
 These include 10 Benefits of the WTO Trading System, Understanding the WTO, The WTO 
and the Millennium Development Goals, and The WTO in Brief. 
 II. PARAMETERS FOR THE PUBLICATION POLICY  
A publications policy needs to clarify and a ddress the broader objectives for the publications 
programme.  There is a wide range of options for managing, licensing and assigning copyright, and 
copyright may be held in different hands depending on the nature of authorship and the relationship of 
authors with the WTO (such as employment or ot her contractual arrangements).  However, it is 
impossible to exercise these various options e ffectively without an understanding of the broader 
publication policy objectives.  Equally, depending on the nature of their diverse inputs to one 
publication, individual authors and co-publishing partners, copyright in one composite publication 
may be held by several different parties, and this  can be a constraint on how copyright is assigned and 
exercised;  a clear policy framework is therefore help ful in setting directions for such partnerships in 
publication activities.  
 
The elements of a publication policy and the c onsequent copyright management issues can be 
taken in a logical order:  
- confirming the overall scope and objectives of  the publications policy - what is the 
WTO seeking to achieve through the various publications it develops and 
disseminates, in line with its overall mandate 
 
- clarifying copyright status, so that it is cl ear what rights are in the hands of the WTO 
and what are held by others, and there is no ambiguity about copyright status  
 
- determining how to exercise specific copy right tools, consistent with copyright 
ownership, in such a way as to achieve the goals of the publication policy. 
 
1. Publications policy 
 
The objectives of the WTO publications policy are necessarily diverse, and emphasis will 
differ according to the category of the publication and possibly also the nature of the individual publication. However, the key objectives, expressed in general terms, would include the following: 
 
 Ensuring wide dissemination of publications, with a view to promoting greater public 
awareness and access to legal, technical, policy and statistical information published by the WT/INF/178 
Page 8  
 
  WTO, in such a way that is practically accessi ble to the widest possible cross- section of 
potential users, noting the needs and context of the developing world and of LDCs in 
particular. 
 
 Preserving the integrity and quality of legal texts and other official materials published in the 
name of the WTO in each of the official languages (and potentially including promoting 
quality and accuracy in translations into other languages).  
 
 Strengthening developing country capacity, both  directly in translating and publishing WTO 
publications, and in the broader sense of promoti ng affordable and equitable access to official 
texts and other publications. 
 
 Generating reasonable revenue from sales of publi cations, where appropriate, to offset costs 
incurred and to support the development a nd dissemination of further publications.  
 
 Using publication partnerships with estab lished publishing houses to reduce demand on in-
house resources for more laborious editorial and publication functions , making substantive 
budget savings for the Secretariat while maintaining high editorial quality. 
 2. Clarification of copyright status 
 
Since copyright is a bundle of rights, it is not  necessarily the case that the WTO as such would 
hold all applicable rights to all publications, across all national jurisdictions, or even that this would 
be a desirable state of affairs for all publications in all countries.  Accordingly, this creates both a 
need to clarify copyright status and to determine the range of practical options that is open to the 
WTO:   
 It is important to clarify who owns what rights, if necessary through specific publication 
contracts that specify clearly that, where n ecessary, copyright ownership is assigned to a 
specific party, so that copyright  can be licensed in a transparen t and predictable way, without 
uncertainty or ambiguity; and 
 
 It is possible to exercise the rights in different ways, in different jurisdictions – for example, 
to allow for a developing country institution to arrange for low-cost editions reserved only for 
developing country markets. 
 
Accordingly, this step would entail clarifying: 
 
 What rights are held by the WTO, either by virtue of authorship by its employees or by virtue 
of contract (such as when a consultant or au thor is contracted to prepare material for a 
publication) 
 
 What rights the WTO is prepared to license or a ssign to other parties – in particular where the 
ownership of certain copyright should  be tran sferred to another party (such as a publishing 
house) or whether certain, specific rights should be licensed selectively as appropriate (such 
as the rights to publish a translation, or the right  to reproduce the work for a particular market)  
 
 How the WTO ownership of copyright, and its willingness to license copyright, are 
communicated to the public, for instance thr ough an updated copyright notice on the website, 
clarifying the terms and conditions under which material published on the website can be used 
  WT/INF/178 
 Page 9 
 
 
   How the WTO would monitor and, if necessary, respond to third party infringement of 
copyright, or in the case of breaches of the terms of a licence   
 
Annex II to this document provides an overview of key terms. 
 3. Exercise of specific copyright tools 
 
Once the status of applicable copyright is clarif ied, and, if necessary, steps (such as contracts 
and assignments) are taken to ensure that clarity, th en there is a firmer basis for putting into place 
specific copyright management tools so as to achieve  the particular objectives for any publication or 
category of publications.  The options here w ould include, as an illustrative range of examples: 
 
 The degree to which WTO publications are available to be reproduced without further 
permission, and distinctions between reproduction for non-commercial and educational use, 
and reproduction for directly commercial purposes   
 
 Management of copyright ownership in the case of co-publications with other international 
organizations, including making arrangements to accommodate publication policies of such 
partners  
 
 Management of copyright ownership and licensi ng of rights under copyright in the case of co-
publications with academic publishing houses, so as  to secure the benefits of editorial and 
other publication capacity of professional pub lishers, while leveraging continued open access, 
such as retaining the right to upload electronic texts on the website while licensing exclusive 
rights to reproduce hard copies for sale  
 
 Management of the distinct right under copyright  to authorize translations, so as to promote 
access to WTO materials while ensuring reasonable quality:  the right of translation may be used to strengthen technical and legal capac ity in developing countries, the cooperating 
institutions with a designated WTO Chair being an example of potential partners for such 
projects. 
 
 WT/INF/178 
Page 10  
 
  ANNEX II:  KEY TERMS 
 
Copyright – a term for the bundle of rights associated with a literary or artistic work; in the 
case of publications, this includes rights over th e reproduction, making available to the public 
(including through uploading on the Internet), ad aptation and translation of the published work. 
Copyright is recognised and exercised under national la w, and is territorial in scope, meaning that the 
same published work can be licensed and published in  different ways in different jurisdictions.  
Copyright is typically subject to limitations and exceptions.  For instance, some countries exclude 
legislative texts altogether from copyright prot ection;  and all countries provide for specific 
exceptions and limitations to the scope of rights,  permitting for example various forms of personal, 
non-commercial or educational copying without  the permission of the copyright holder. 
 
Authorship and assignment – normally, original authorship  is considered the basis for 
copyright. The original author of a work is considered the owner of copyright in that work, but this ownership of copyright may be transferred to a thir d party, such as the employer of the author, or 
through a contract;  when the ownership of copyright  is transferred in this way, it is said to be 
"assigned" or transferred through "assignment".  
Licensing – the owner of copyright can, and very frequently does, licence the content to be 
used in defined ways. The different rights within the copyright "bundle" can be licensed in different 
ways – for instance, the right to reproduce the pub lication can be licensed to one publisher; and the 
rights to produce a translation or other derivative wo rk, and to reproduce it, can be licensed to another 
publisher. Licensing can also distinguish according to  national jurisdiction, or according to specific 
markets (such as academic, public sector or developing country markets).    
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