Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works – The Berne Convention, adopted in 1886, governs the protection of works and the rights of their authors. It is based on three basic principles:

1. Works originating in one of the Contracting States must be given the same protection in each of the other Contracting States
2. Protection must not be conditional upon compliance with any formality
3. Protection is independent of the existence of protection in the country of origin of the work

The Berne Convention provides a minimum standard of rights to be protected. These include: 

• the right to translate 
• the right to make adaptations and arrangements of the work
• the right to perform dramatic, dramatico-musical and musical works in public
• the right to recite literary works in public
• the right to communicate to the public the performance of such works
• the right to broadcast
• the right to make reproductions in any manner or form
• the right to use the work as a basis for an audiovisual work, and the right to reproduce, distribute, perform in public or communicate to the public that audiovisual work

The Convention also recognises moral rights (or personal rights), that is, the right to claim authorship of the work and the right to object to any mutilation, deformation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the work that would be prejudicial to the author’s honour or reputation.