View source for Uruguay Round Agreements Act

{{Short description|US free trade law with implications for intellectual property}}
{{Infobox U.S. legislation
| shorttitle = Uruguay Round Agreements Act
| othershorttitles = General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
| longtitle = An Act to approve and implement the trade agreements concluded in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations.
| colloquialacronym = URAA
| enacted by = 103rd
| effective date = December 8, 1994
| public law url = http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-108/pdf/STATUTE-108-Pg4809.pdf
| cite public law = 103-465
| cite statutes at large = {{usstat|108|4809}}
| acts amended = 
| acts repealed = 
| title amended = [[Title 19 of the United States Code|19 U.S.C.: Customs Duties]]
| sections created = {{Usc-title-chap|19|22}} §§ 3501, 3511–3556, 3571–3572, 3581–3592, 3601–3624
| sections amended = 
| leghisturl = http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d103:HR05110:@@@R
| introducedin = House
| introducedbill = {{USBill|103|H.R.|5110}}
| introducedby = [[Dick Gephardt|Richard Gephardt]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D]]-[[Missouri|MO]])
| introduceddate = September 27, 1994
| committees = [[United States House Committee on Ways and Means|House Ways and Means]], [[United States House Committee on Agriculture|House Agriculture]], [[United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce|House Education and Labor]], [[United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce|House Energy and Commerce]], [[United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs|House Foreign Affairs]], [[United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Government Operations]], [[United States House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary]], [[United States House Committee on Rules|House Rules]]
| passedbody1 = House
| passeddate1 = November 29, 1994
| passedvote1 = 288-146, {{US House Vote|1994|507}}
| passedbody2 = Senate
| passedas2 = <!-- used if the second body changes the name of the legislation -->
| passeddate2 = December 1, 1994
| passedvote2 = 76-24, {{US Senate Vote|103|2|329}}
| conferencedate = 
| passedbody3 = 
| passeddate3 = 
| passedvote3 = 
| agreedbody3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreeddate3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreedvote3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreedbody4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| agreeddate4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| agreedvote4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| passedbody4 = 
| passeddate4 = 
| passedvote4 = 
| signedpresident = [[Bill Clinton]]
| signeddate = December 8, 1994
| unsignedpresident = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing -->
| unsigneddate = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing -->
| vetoedpresident = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| vetoeddate = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenbody1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddendate1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenvote1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenbody2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddendate2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenvote2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| amendments = 
| SCOTUS cases = ''[[Golan v. Holder]]''
}}
The '''Uruguay Round Agreements Act''' ('''URAA'''; {{USStatute|103|465|108|4809|1994|12|08}}) is an [[Act of Congress]] in the [[United States]] that implemented in U.S. law the [[Marrakesh Agreement]] of 1994. The Marrakesh Agreement was part of the [[Uruguay Round]] of negotiations which transformed the [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]] (GATT) into the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO).  One of its effects is to give United States copyright protection to foreign works that had previously been in the [[public domain]] in the United States.

== Legislative history ==

U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] sent the bill for the URAA to [[United States Congress|Congress]] on September 27, 1994, where it was introduced in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] as H.R. 5110<ref name="hr5110">U.S. [[Library of Congress]]: ''[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d103:h.r.05110: H.R. 5110 at THOMAS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113205617/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d103:h.r.05110: |date=2016-01-13 }}''. URL last accessed 2007-05-08.</ref> and in the [[United States Senate|Senate]] as S. 2467.<ref name="s2467">U.S. Library of Congress: ''[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d103:SN02467: S. 2467 at THOMAS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113205617/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d103:SN02467: |date=2016-01-13 }}''. URL last accessed 2007-05-08.</ref> The bill was submitted under special [[Fast track (trade)|fast-track procedures]] under which neither chamber could modify it. The House passed the bill on November 29, 1994; the Senate did so on December 1, 1994. President Clinton signed it into law on December 8, 1994 as {{USPL|103|465}}.<ref name="patry">Patry, footnote 2.</ref> The URAA became effective on January 1, 1995.<ref>[[:s:Proclamation 6821|Presidential Proclamation 6821]] of September 12, 1995 ({{USStat|109|1813}}): "To Establish a Tariff-Rate Quota on Certain Tobacco, Eliminate Tariffs on Certain Other Tobacco, and for Other Purposes"</ref>  A number of technical corrections were made to the copyright provisions introduced by the URAA through the ''Copyright Technical Amendments Act'' (H.R. 672, which became Pub. L. 105-80) in 1997.<ref name="hr672">United States: ''[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:H.R.672: H.R. 672: Copyright Technical Amendments Act] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705111556/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:H.R.672: |date=2016-07-05 }}'', 1997. See also the [https://archive.today/20121213080603/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&sid=cp1050zsNS&refer=&r_n=hr025.105&db_id=105&item=&sel=TOC_39416& House Report 105-25] for a discussion. URLs last accessed 2007-05-07.</ref>

== Amendments to the U.S. copyright law ==
{{Wikisource|Uruguay Round Agreements Act/Title V|Uruguay&nbsp;Round&nbsp;Agreements Act&nbsp;-&nbsp;Title V}}
{{Wikisource|United States Code/Title 17|United&nbsp;States&nbsp;Code<br/>Title&nbsp;17}}
Title V of the URAA made several modifications to the [[Copyright law of the United States]]. It amended [[Copyright Act of 1976|Title 17]] ("Copyrights") of the [[United States Code]] to include a completely reworded article 104A on copyright restorations on foreign works and to include a new chapter 11, containing a prohibition of [[Bootleg recording|bootleg]] sound and video recordings of live performances. In Title 18 of the U.S. Code, a new article 2319A was inserted, detailing the penal measures against infringements of this new bootlegging prohibition.<ref name="uraa_title_v">U.S. Congress: ''URAA, Title V''. URL last accessed 2007-01-30.</ref>

=== Copyright restorations ===

The U.S. had joined the [[Berne Convention]] on March 1, 1989, when its [[Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988]] entered in force. Article 18 of the Berne Convention specified that the treaty covered all works that were still copyrighted in their source country and that had not entered the [[public domain]] in the country where copyright was claimed due to the expiration of a previously granted copyright there.<ref name="bc_text_18">Berne Convention, article 18.</ref> Consequently, the U.S. would have had to grant copyright on foreign works that were never copyrighted before in the U.S. But the United States denied this retroactivity of the Berne Convention and applied the rules of the treaty only to works first published after March 1, 1989.<ref name="Elst491">Elst&nbsp;p.&nbsp;491.</ref> Earlier foreign works that were not covered by other treaties and that had until then not been subject to copyright in the U.S. remained uncopyrighted in the United States.<ref name="Pilch2003_83">Pilch&nbsp;p.&nbsp;83.</ref>

The U.S. faced harsh criticism for its unilateral denouncement of the retroactivity of the Berne Convention defined in article 18,<ref name="Elst491"/><ref name="regnier">Regnier&nbsp;pp.&nbsp;400ff.</ref> and ultimately reversed its position. The copyright changes implemented by the URAA in 17 USC 104A<ref name="usc17_104a">[[United States Code]]: ''[[:s:United States Code/Title 17/Chapter 1/Section 104A|17 USC 104A]]''.</ref> remedied the situation and brought the U.S. legislation in-line with the requirements of the Berne Convention.<ref name="Pilch2003_84">Pilch&nbsp;p.&nbsp;84.</ref>

{{USC|17|104A}} effectively copyrights many foreign works that were never before copyrighted in the U.S.<ref name="hirtle_2008">Hirtle</ref> The works are subject to the normal U.S. copyright term, as if they had never entered the public domain.<ref>17 USC 104A(a)(1)(B).</ref>

The affected works are those which were in the public domain either due to a lack of international copyright agreements between the U.S. and the country of origin of the work, or due to a failure to meet U.S. [[copyright registration]] and [[copyright notification|notification]] [[copyright formalities|formalities]]. Also affected are works which did have previous U.S. copyright, but which entered the public domain due to a failure to renew the copyright. The law defines all of the affected works as "restored works" and the copyright granted to them as "restored copyright", even though many of the works never had U.S. copyright to restore.

Copyright restoration went into effect on January 1, 1996, for works from countries that were, on that date, members of either the Berne Convention, the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO), the [[WIPO Copyright Treaty]], or, for sound recordings, the [[WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty]]. Copyright restoration for works from other countries went into effect on the earliest adherence date of the country to one of these four treaties.<ref name="Copyright20131224">{{citation | title = Circular 38b: Copyright Restoration Under the URAA | url = https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ38b.pdf | publisher = [[United States Copyright Office]] | location = Washington, D.C. | date = January 2013 | access-date = 2013-12-24 }}</ref>

Excepted from the copyright restorations are foreign works where the copyright was ever owned or administered by the "[[Alien Property Custodian]]", if the restored copyright would be owned by a government or instrumentality thereof.<ref>{{UnitedStatesCodeSub|17|104A|a|2}}</ref> Works simultaneously published within the [[United States]] and a treaty country were also ineligible for restoration, where "simultaneous publication" means "during the 30-day period following its first publication in
the eligible country."<ref name="Copyright20131224" />

=== Administrative procedures ===

The URAA also included in {{USC|17|104A}} administrative procedures for dealing with cases where someone was already and in good faith using a work that had been in the public domain but on which the copyright was restored by the URAA. Such users are called "reliance parties" in that provision.<ref name="reliance">U.S. Copyright Office: ''[http://www.copyright.gov/docs/reliance.html Reliance parties]''. URL last accessed 2007-05-07.</ref>

In particular, rightsholders had to file a so-called "Notice of Intent to Enforce" (NIE) their restored copyright, or had to inform earlier users of their works (i.e., existing reliance parties) of that fact. The NIEs were to be filed at the U.S. Copyright Office and were made publicly accessible.<ref name="nies">U.S. Copyright Office: ''[http://www.copyright.gov/gatt.html Notices of Restored Copyrights]''. URL last accessed 2007-05-07.</ref> To enforce a restored copyright against a user who used the work without authorization from the rightsholder after the copyright had been restored, no NIE was necessary.<ref name="fr60_35522">U.S. Copyright Office: ''[http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/1995/60fr35522.html Restoration of Certain Berne and WTO Works]'', comment of [[William F. Patry]] on p. 35525. URL last accessed 2007-05-07.</ref>

=== Challenges to the URAA restorations ===
The retroactive copyright restorations of the URAA have been challenged as violating the [[Constitution of the United States]] in two cases.

In ''[[Golan v. Gonzales]]'', both the [[CTEA]] and the copyright restorations of the URAA were attacked as violating the Copyright and Patent clause (article I, §8, clause 8) of the U.S. constitution, which gives Congress the power "to ''promote the Progress'' of Science and useful Arts, by securing for ''limited'' Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." (emphasis added). The plaintiffs claimed that the URAA violated the "limitedness" of the copyright term by removing works from the [[public domain]] and placing them under copyright again, and that doing so also did not promote the progress of science or the arts. Furthermore, plaintiffs claimed the URAA violated the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First]] and the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]]. These challenges were dismissed by the [[United States Court for the District of Colorado]],<ref name="golan">U.S.: [http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/OpposingCopyrightExtension/constitutionality/GolanVAshcroft(DColo3-15-04).htm ''Golan v. Ashcroft'' 310 F.Supp.2d 1215 (D. Colo. 2004)]. URL last accessed 2007-05-08.</ref> but the decision was appealed to the [[Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals]], which remanded the decision to the district court, ordering a fresh evaluation of First Amendment constitutionality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/case/golan-v-gonzales|title=Golan v. Gonzales|publisher=The Center for Internet and Society|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509094929/http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/case/golan-v-gonzales|archive-date=2007-05-09}}</ref><ref name="golan_10th">U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit: ''[http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/05/05-1259.pdf Golan v. Gonzales]'', September 4, 2007; Docket no. 05-1259. URL last accessed 2007-09-10.</ref>

On April 3, 2009, in the superseding case ''[[Golan v. Holder]]'', Judge [[Lewis Babcock]] in the United States Court for the District of Colorado considered the URAA in violation of the First Amendment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/6149|title=URAA Held Unconstitutional|publisher=The Center for Internet and Society|access-date=2014-03-08}}</ref>  The court held that URAA Section 514 was substantially broader than necessary to achieve the government interest.  By restoring copyright to certain public domain works, and requiring royalty payments and restricting derivative works after one year following restoration, Congress overstepped its constitutional authority and failed to fully protect First Amendment interests of reliance parties in the works.<ref name="babcock">District Court for the District of Colorado, Judge Babcock: [http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/system/files/Golan%20order_0.pdf ''Golan v. Holder'', Memorandum Opinion and Order], April 3, 2009; Civil Case No. 01-cv-01854-LTB. URL last accessed 2009-11-04. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010003601/http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/system/files/Golan%20order_0.pdf |date=October 10, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="Ochoa">Ochoa, T.: ''[http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2009/04/ochoa_on_golan.htm Ochoa on Golan v. Holder and Copyright Restoration]'', April 6, 2009. URL last accessed 2009-11-04.</ref>
On March 7, 2011, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] granted a [[certiorari]] by Golan to hear the case.<ref name=CIT_Granted>{{cite web |last=Falzone |first=Anthony |title=Supreme Court grants cert. in Golan v. Holder|url=http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/6631|work=The Center for Internet and Technology |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=March 7, 2011 |date=March 7, 2011}}</ref> On January 18, 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the URAA in a 6–2 decision. The majority opinion was written by [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg|Justice Ginsburg]] and the dissent was written by [[Stephen Breyer|Justice Breyer]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Gagnier|first=Christina|title=SCOTUS Adds More Fuel to the Copyright Debate With Golan V. Holder|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-gagnier/scotus-adds-more-fuel-to-_b_1213141.html|access-date=19 January 2012|newspaper=Huffington Post|date=18 January 2012}}</ref>

A second case, ''Luck's Music Library, Inc. v. Gonzales,'' which only addressed the Copyright and Patent Clause
issue, was dismissed.<ref name="lucks">407 F.3d 1262 (D.C. Cir. 2005). U.S.: [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/federal/judicial/dc/opinions/04opinions/04-5240a.pdf ''Luck's Music Library, Inc. v. Gonzales'' 407 F.3d 1262 (D.C. Cir. 2005)]. URL last accessed 2007-05-08. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905035032/http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/federal/judicial/dc/opinions/04opinions/04-5240a.pdf |date=September 5, 2006 }}</ref>

== Films previously in the public domain ==
The Uruguay Round Agreements Act restored the United States copyrights of a number of well-known films in 1995. Among such titles were ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927);<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/copyright-restoration.html |title=Copyright restoration and foreign works: be careful |access-date=January 13, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'' (1929);<ref name=Uruguay/> ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'' (1935);<ref name=Uruguay>Library of Congress, Copyright Office. "[http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/1997/62fr44841.html Copyright Restoration of Works in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act]", [[U.S. Copyright Office]] 22 August 1997. Retrieved 15 February 2011.</ref> and ''[[The Third Man]]'' (1949).<ref name=Uruguay/> ''Metropolis'' reentered the public domain 28 years later, in 2023.

== See also ==
* [[Bilateral copyright agreements of the United States]]

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist|2}}

'''Bibliography'''
*Elst, M.: ''Copyright, Freedom of Speech, and Cultural Policy in the Russian Federation'', Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston, 2005; {{ISBN|90-04-14087-5}}.
*Hirtle, P. B.: "[http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july08/hirtle/07hirtle.html Copyright Renewal, Copyright Restoration, and the Difficulty of Determining Copyright Status]", in ''D-Lib Magazine '''14'''(7/8)'', July/August 2008. {{ISSN|1082-9873}}.
*[[William F. Patry|Patry, W. F.]]: ''[http://digital-law-online.info/patry/patry10.html#_ftn2 Copyright Law and Practice]'', 2000 Cumulative Supplement to Chapter 1. Bna Books, {{ISBN|0-87179-854-9}}. The 2000 Supplement has {{ISBN|1-57018-208-6}}. URL last accessed 2007-01-30.
*Pilch, J. T.: ''Understanding Copyright Law for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Materials'', in ''Slavic and East European Information Resources (SEEIR) '''4'''(1)'', pp.&nbsp;75&nbsp;– 101; Haworth Information Press 2003.
*Regnier, O.: ''Who Framed Article 18? The Protection of pre-1989 Works in the U.S. under the Berne Convention'', p.&nbsp;400–405 in ''European Intellectual Property Review'', 1993.
*U.S. Congress: ''[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/useftp.cgi?IPaddress=162.140.64.45&filename=h5110enr.pdf&directory=/disk3/wais/data/103_cong_bills Uruguay Round Agreements Act]{{dead link|date=March 2014}}'', H.R. 5110, 103d Cong., 2d Sess., became Pub. L. No. 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809
*[[WIPO]]: ''[http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/trtdocs_wo001.html Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911051959/http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/trtdocs_wo001.html |date=2012-09-11 }}''... as revised in Paris 1971 and amended in 1979. URL last accessed 2007-01-30.

== External links ==
{{commons category|URAA}}
*[http://www.copyright.gov/gatt.html U.S. Copyright Office – Notices of Restored Copyrights]

{{USCopyrightActs}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:United States federal copyright legislation]]
[[Category:General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]]
[[Category:Acts of the 103rd United States Congress]]