Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Actually, the US has increasingly come into compliance with Berne, most notably with the Uruguay Round Agreements in 1994 and some updates in '97.
For example, the US government actually refused to abide by one aspect of Berne: Certain works should have been offered public domain, but because the US did not properly adhere to Berne, some works were protected in the nation of origin, but were in the public domain in the US. In 2011, the SCOTUS ruled that the US had an obligation to abide by the treaty, and those works would be removed from the public domain and protected again by copyright, until such protections expire in the nation of origin.
Berne only specifies a minimum period; as far as I know, it does not require a maximum as well.
Each nation is allowed to implement copyright in its own way, as long as a) it honors the protections and durations of the other signatory nations, and b) it adheres to the minimum of life + 50.
Extensions are routine, and have been added many times over the course of history. The constitutionality of the extensions was thoroughly reviewed in Eldred v Ashcroft.
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And the net result is a lot of Civil Disobedience. <Shrug> When the law goes to the highest bidder, the rest lose respect for it. And for the buyers. Look at the world around you, today....