I always wondered what strings hold the Berne Convention (and similar treaties) together. It seems like they got adopted by incredibly broad swathes of countries-- ones with wildly different social and economic needs and norms. Why would countries that can't even agree on any other nuts-and-bolts matter suddenly all line up to defend Mickey Mouse?
My first guess was promises of reciprocality, but that seems like a hard sell to countries without a meaningful IP economy.
I can't imagine it being enforced with bullets. There's no way to rally troops to defend a copyright that doesn't make you look like the bad guy.
Was it smuggled in as part of other trade agreements? (If you want to sell us $resource_you_actually_have, you have to also agree to worship the almighty circled C?)
It was initially signed as a standalone agreement 150 years ago for the sake of reciprocity - rightsholders in different European countries were unhappy with pirate publishers over the border selling their works without payment.
Today though pretty much everything in the Berne Convention is part of agreements you have to implement to join the World Trade Organisation, which is a pretty big motivation to abide by it.
My first guess was promises of reciprocality, but that seems like a hard sell to countries without a meaningful IP economy.
I can't imagine it being enforced with bullets. There's no way to rally troops to defend a copyright that doesn't make you look like the bad guy.
Was it smuggled in as part of other trade agreements? (If you want to sell us $resource_you_actually_have, you have to also agree to worship the almighty circled C?)