UN Copyright Convention

UN Copyright Convention, officially Resolution #163, was the second in a series of two intellectual property resolutions proposed by the nation of Ceorana. Its aim was to protect copyrighted work internationally, and it was placed in the free trade category.

Resolution History

Drafting

UN Copyright Convention was primarily drafted on Reclamation and was meant as a sequel to UN Patent Law. The nation of Ausserland provided much feedback on the draft, and was granted co-authorship.

Telegram Campaign

The resolution successfully reached quorum after several tries. Ceorana enlisted the help of Antrium and Ausserland in bringing it to quorum.

Floor Debate

The most prolific opposers of the resolution were Kelssek and Discoraversalism, who both campaigned actively against it, although also debated against each other. They were countered by such members as Ausserland, Flibbleites, Norderia, and, of course, Ceorana. Concerns raised included topics such as Disney's influence in real life copyright laws, the duration of the laws, and the need for nations to change their copyright laws to comply with the resolution.

Resolution Text

Description: The United Nations,

NOTING that the greatest value in intellectual property is the creative or investigative work used to create it, not the medium on which it is demonstrated or displayed,

BELIEVING that creators of intellectual property should be able to have control over the distribution and display of their work,

NOTING that many nations already have copyright laws in place, but these laws can vary immensely and do not apply to other nations,

AFFIRMING that an international convention on copyrights would guarantee copyright owners control over their work, and thus

CONCLUDING that an international convention on copyrights would give authors an incentive to market their work both internationally and nationally, improving economies through increased trade,

1. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution:
a. "intellectual property" as any work of mainly creative value that is of original authorship and is fixed in a tangible expressive medium;
b. "copyright law" as law which grants exclusive property rights to the creator of a particular form of intellectual property and provides protection to those rights;
c. "fair use" as a use or reproduction of intellectual property in educational institutions for educational purposes, for private/personal use, for use in critical articles or reviews, or for parodies, provided that such use does not excessively infringe on the rights and profits of the copyright holder;
d. “legal entity” as a sentient being or corporation;

2. DECLARES that the copyright law of each nation shall apply to the distribution, demonstration, expression, and use of intellectual property in that nation, regardless of where the work was originally published or created or the citizenship of the author;

3. MANDATES that national copyright law must provide at least as much protection as the following:
a. No legal entity or government may print, display, demonstrate, reproduce, or store in an electronic system any intellectual property without the consent of the copyright holder for a period extending until at least thirty years after the death of the author, or, in the case of a corporation originating the copyright, at least sixty-five years after the work was placed in tangible form, except under the exceptions for fair use;
b. National copyright law must not discriminate in favor of domestic works;
c. Except as provided in this clause, application of copyrights must take place automatically at the time that the work was first placed in tangible form, with no statutory formalities required for protection. Nations may impose additional requirements for securing copyright, but these may apply only to works created within that nation by its own citizens;

4. DECLARES that copyright holders may license use of intellectual property to any or all legal entities under any terms they desire, but that all people reserve the rights to use the work under the pertinent national copyright law;

5. DECLARES that copyright holders may, if they wish, put their work into the public domain, at which time it is free for anyone to use for any purpose, with or without attribution;

6. DECLARES that copyrights may be held by any person or legal entity, and may be transfered or sold, but that the original author of the work must always have rights to use his work.

Co-authored by Ausserland.

Votes For: 8,227

Votes Against: 4,059

Implemented: Thu Jun 29 2006

Voting Analysis

No voting analysis has been conducted as of yet.

Gameplay Impacts

The passage of this resolution had little impact on the way NationStates is played, although it did improve the economies of all member states. An intellectual property issue did arise during the course of the submission of the resolution: the delegation from Discoraversalism used much of the text to create their own version of the resolution. After an objection from the Gruenberger delegation, followed by a specific refusal of permission from the Ceoranan delegation it was ruled that re-using the text of another resolution, without the original author's permission, is not in spirit with the game and is not allowed. This ruling applies to all future cases.

Additional Materials

• UN Timeline
• United Nations