is sufficient to constitute copyright infringement because a copy of the work is made in the
computer’s RAM to enable the images to display on the computer monitor.”^40
- The WIPO Treaties & the European Copyright Directive Are Unclear
With Respect to Interim “Copies”
The language of two copyright treaties adopted during 1996 by the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO)^41 leaves open the issue of whether transitory images of data
stored in RAM constitute “copies.”^42
(a) Introduction to the WIPO Treaties & the European Copyright
Directive
The WIPO treaties were adopted as a result of the Diplomatic Conference on Certain
Copyright and Neighboring Rights Questions hosted by WIPO in Geneva on December 2-20,
- More than 700 delegates from approximately 160 countries attended this Conference,
which was aimed at tightening international copyright law to respond to issues arising from
worldwide use of the Internet. The Conference was also designed to bring existing legislation on
copyrights more in line with the provisions of the Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS)
sections of the Uruguay Round trade agreement, which in 1994 set up the World Trade
Organization (WTO).^43
Three new treaties were considered, only two of which were adopted: the “WIPO
Copyright Treaty” and the “WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.”^44 The WIPO
Copyright Treaty strengthens the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic
Works (the “Berne Convention”),^45 established in 1886, which was the first international
copyright treaty. The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty strengthens the International
Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting
Organizations, completed in Rome in 1961 (the “Rome Convention”).^46
(^40) Id. at *38
(^41) WIPO is a United Nations organization which handles questions of copyrights and trademarks.
(^42) The treaties enter into force three months after 30 instruments of ratification or accession by member States
have been deposited with the Director General of WIPO.
(^43) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Apr. 15, 1994, Marrakesh Agreement
Establishing the World Trade Organization, Annex 1C, Legal Instruments – Results of the Uruguay Round vol.
31; 33 I.L.M. 81 (1994).
(^44) The proposed WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Databases generated huge controversy, and
was not adopted at the Conference. “WIPO Delegates Agree on Two Treaties,” 2 BNA’s Electronic Info. Pol’y
& L. Rep. 22, 22 (1997).
(^45) Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Sept. 9, 1886, 828 U.N.T.S. 221.
(^46) International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting
Organizations, Oct. 26, 1961, 496 U.N.T.X. 43.