FORMALITIES
 

88. The proposals of the International Bureau in respect of the abolition of formalities were not discussed during the first session of the Committee. Accordingly, the said proposals are resubmitted for consideration during the present session.

89. Article 11 of the Rome Convention and Article 5 of the Phonograms Convention provide in practically the same way that, if a Contracting State, under its domestic law, requires compliance with formalities, as a condition of protecting producers of phonograms, these must be considered fulfilled if all the authorized duplicates of the phonogram distributed to the public or their containers bear a notice consisting of the symbol P in a circle, accompanied by the year date of the first publication, placed in such manner as to give reasonable notice of a claim to protection. They provide, furthermore, that, if the duplicates or the containers of the duplicates do not identify the producer, his successor in title or the exclusive licensee, the notice must also include the name of the producer, his successor in title or the exclusive licensee.

90. The above-mentioned provisions of the Rome Convention and the Phonograms Convention do not prescribe any formalities as conditions of protection, but rather determine the maximum formalities that any Contracting State may require as conditions of protection in the case of phonograms protected by the conventions concerned.

91. The general trend at the level of national legislation is to abolish formalities as conditions of the protection of both copyright and neighboring rights. (It is another matter that "formalities" may be maintained with different legal effects, for example, registration with the effect of a rebuttable presumption according to which the registered data, until the contrary is proved, ate to be recognized as true and valid (something which may be very useful for strengthening legal security and for the fight against piracy)). It is desirable that the instrument follow and strengthen this trend.

92. It is proposed that the instrument provide that no country party to it May, as a condition of the protection of rights provided for in the instrument, require the owners of rights to comply with any formalities.

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