著作者の権利と情報の自由

―ベルヌ条約の規定とその変遷

抄録

This article discusses the reason why information is not protected by rights of authors, from a historical viewpoint of the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and its revisions. My findings are as follows:

(1) Initially, information was in the public domain for all to use. However, protection of information under the Convention has been enlarged since the 1908 Berlin revision. Article 10^bis(1) of the 1971 Paris Act permits information to be protected, so that it causes the formation of the media conglomerates.

(2) The phenomenon can be explained from religion and law. The Berne Convention derives from the Roman Catholic view in France that literary and artistic works should be protected. The opposing view in Britain that information should be protected stems from work ethic of protestants. The British view was incorporated into Article 10^bis(1) of the Stockholm, Paris Acts.

(3) Because the media tend to monopolize information, the problem arises as to how free flow of information can be ensured. Now that America and Britain dominate the media industry, compulsory license to reproduce information should be established in the Berne Convention.