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5 Bus. L. Rev. 1 (1984)

handle is hein.kluwer/blr0005 and id is 1 raw text is: Editor
Ruth Eldon BA

January 1984
Vol 5 No 1

Editorial Advisory Board

Roy M Goode OBE LLD
Crowther Professor of Credit and Commercial
Law, and Director of the Centre for
Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary
College, University of London; Solicitor
L C B Gower
Former Vice-Chancellor and Professor of
Law, University of Southampton; Special
Research Adviser to the Department of Trade;
Solicitor
Frances Graupner MA(Oxon)
Solicitor with the Rio Tinto-Zinc Corporation
Plc
E R Hardy Ivamy LLB PhD LLD
Professor of Law in the University of
London; Barrister

Richard Mallows
Solicitor
Hubert Picarda BCL MA
Barrister
Norman Selwyn JP LLM Dip Econ(Oxon)
ACIS
Lecturer in Law at the Management Centre,
University of Aston; Barrister
Kenneth R Simmonds
Professor of International Law in the
University of London
Keith Walmsley LLB FCIS
Solicitor in Commerce and Industry

Editorial

Copyright Control
The major problem for copyright owners
lies in enforcement of their otherwise
powerful and long-lived rights. Even
within the UK, enforcement can be
difficult enough, as those engaged in
combating video piracy know to their
cost. But the problem is an international
one, and infringing goods can be made in
one distant country and put on the
market in another distant couintry where
the laws, even if they exist, may be very
difficult to enforce. In some instances the
very basis of copyright itself is
challenged.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has
published a useful report on Copyright
and Related Rights,' which explains
both the UK law and the outlines of the
various international conventions which
exist to assist copyright owners to protect
their works, the provisions of which, to
be effective, have to be incorporated into
the laws of the signatory states. It also
reviews the attitude of developing
countries towards copyright control.
Copyright control enshrines a monopoly,
and to some developing countries it
constitutes an impediment to their own
development: it requires them directly or
indirectly to pay copyright royalties, at a
stage in their development when they
have little copyright material of their own
on which to earn income. Some
governments have even encouraged
copyright infringement because the
industry it produces is good for the
economy.

As countries develop so copyright
control tends to become more
established. But even in highly
developed economies copyright law is
often inadequate. The 1956 Copyright
Act was passed before technological
developments led to widespread
photocopying; before either mass or
private reproduction of sound and video
tapes was contemplated; and before the
computer revolution was upon us. The
Act needs updating, but progress is slow.
Pressures have led to items of specific
legislation being passed in an attempt to
deal with the grosser abuses of video tape
piracy, and to the courts interpreting the
existing law to protect computer
software. The valuable Anton Piller
procedure has been devised and
developed, and international
co-operation between copyright owners
has increased to deal with the
increasingly international business of
infringement.
With patent rights copyright control is
an essential protection given to
creativity, but it needs to be relevant to
modern needs. The EIU report, whilst
lacking a discussion of the industrial
application of copyright drawings, is a
useful guide to the protections available
to the owners of copyright both in the
UK and through the web of international
conventions and agreements which exist
to help an owner control the use of his
copyright work.
1Available from the EIU, Spencer House, 27 St
James's Place, London SWIA INT. Price £55.

Business
Law
Review

Contents

In Perspective
Banking Law

Marine Insurance
New Institute Cargo Clauses       5
Company Law
Chinese Joint Ventures Four Years
On                                7
Commercial Law
Collection of Commercial Debts
in France                        21
Data Protection
Data Protection Bill: Data Protection
Under the European Convention   23

City Newsletter
Infobank

Australian Newsletter
American Newsletter
Book Reviews

Editorial Office
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Telephone 01-821 1123
Contributions and letters for publication,
which should be typed, are welcomed,
and should be sent to the Editor at the
above address.
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Subscription January-December 1984
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Copyright' 2007 by Kluwer Law International. All rights reserved.
No claim asserted to original government works.

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