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an associated company itself, not by an independent licensee for another territory (Sebastian International, Inc. v Consumer Contacts (PTY) LTD 847 F.2d 1093 (3d Cir. 1988] rev'g 664 F.Supp. 909 [D.N.J. 1987] and K Mart Corp. v Cartier, Inc. 108 S.Ct 1811 [1988]). A different case in the UK, where an exclusive licensee for the UK was held (in an interlocutory decision) to be unable to rely on the right in copyright to prevent the importation by a third party of copies made by his licensor, has been reversed by subsequent legislation (CBS (UK) v Charmdale [1980] Ch.476; Copyright Act 1988 s27). Thus any concept of exhaustion of rights in respect of copies licensed for sale in other territories is of most limited application.
5. Berne Convention and the exclusive reproduction right. Under Article 9 of the Berne Convention (1971 text), signatory states are required to confer on authors of literary works the exclusive right of authorising the reproduction of those works, in any manner or form. This must, by definition, be in the territory of the signatory state, and the right of authorising reproduction must include the right to control the importation of reproductions from other countries, as otherwise the reproduction right could no longer be exclusive in that signatory state.
6.
Infringing Copies Article 16 of the Berne Convention requires that signatory states provide the remedy of seizure of copies which infringe the author's exclusive rights in the work as guaranteed by the Convention. Infringing copies include reproductions not authorised by the copyright owner, and also reproductions coming from a country where the work is not protected, or has ceased to be protected". Although this does not specifically mention copies reproduced with the authority of the copyright owner for sale in other countries, but not authorised by the copyright owner for sale in the particular territory, the provision self-evidently means that the copyright owner in the particular territory must be able to prevent importation of reproductions he has not authorised for the territory.
1.
the
Government control of circulation not relevant Article 17 of Convention reserves the right of the Governments of signatory states to control the circulation, presentation or exhibition of any work. This is of course solely concerned with the right to control the availability of works thought to be obscene, defamatory, contrary to national security, or otherwise against the public
interest.
8.
Thus,
Examples from national legislation The interpretation of Article 16 set out in paragraph 6 above is exemplified by the firm inclusion of the right to prevent infringement by importation, including of licensed copies, in modern copyright statutes. the UK Copyright Act, 1988, s27 expressly enables the rights owner to prevent infringing importation and confers this right also on an exclusive licensee against copies sold by the licensor. The US