Notes on Article 12
130. Since, under Article 4, Contracting Parties shall be free to implement their obligations under the Treaty through a special law, any other intellectual property law, or through any combination of other laws, the possibility might arise that, in the implementation of the Treaty, a Contracting Party might create exceptions to rules which it is already obliged to follow by virtue of being party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Article 12 makes it clear that the obligations of a Contracting Party under the Paris or Berne Conventions, where that Contracting Party is or may become party to those Conventions, shall not be affected by the present Treaty.
131. Although, during the fourth session of the Committee of Experts, some delegations were of the opinion that it was not necessary to deal with any possible conflict between the new Treaty and other treaties, it is believed that it is prudent, at least as far as the Paris Convention and the Berne Convention are concerned, to provide expressly that the obligations that any Contracting Party may have under the Paris Convention or the Berne Convention shall not be affected by the Treaty. This seems to be prudent because it may be expected that most countries that will adhere to the Treaty will be party to one or both of the said Conventions and their obligations under those Conventions cannot be put aside by any new treaty (in this case, by the Treaty under consideration) as far as such countries' relations to all the other countries party to the Paris Convention or the Berne Convention are concerned. This follows from Article 19 of the Paris Convention and Article 20 of the Berne Convention.
132. The effect of Article 12 is that, if a Contracting Party chose to implement its obligations under the Treaty through a law made, totally or partly, on the basis that layout-designs are works under the copyright law or are a subject matter of industrial property law, and that Contracting Party is a party not only to the proposed Treaty but also to the Berne Convention or the Paris Convention, the said law must be compatible not only with the proposed Treaty but also with that or those Conventions. For example, if a Contracting Party considered layout-designs to be works under its copyright law and was a party to both the proposed Treaty and the Berne Convention, layout-designs would have to be protected without formalities (even though the proposed Treaty admits formalities) and for 50 years after the death of the author (even though the proposed Treaty admits a shorter period of protection). Or, if the Contracting Party is party to both the proposed Treaty and the Paris Convention and protects layout-designs by patents for inventions or utility models, layout-designs would require the grant of a patent or other official certificate (even though the proposed Treaty admits protection without any procedure before a government authority).
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