THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF COPYRIGHTS IN TOURIST PUBLICATIONS

Viktor Lazic
unpublished
Copyright protection is crucial for the issuing of tourist publications. High standards in respect of copyright protection in tourism are a sign of a healthy business climate and foster development of this industry. On the contrary, non-compliance with copyrights laws has very negative impact on tourism. Foreign companies are not willing to do business in countries where copyright protection is not guaranteed, and respecting the copyrights of texts, pictures and other materials directly affect
more » ... heir quality on the market, since if the copyrights are not respected, the authors have no interest to produce a high quality product. Copyrights are regulated by local laws, which in most European countries have identical content. There are international conventions and treaties that are also regulating this area, which are of great importance, such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the EU Directive 2001/29/EK from 22.05.2001. More than three quarters of countries have signed and ratified the Berne Convention, and this text contains analysis of its impact on local legislation and reflects on the situation in practice. Based on a detailed analysis of the solutions found in international treaties and local legislation, the author gives proposals for specific solutions in legislation of this area. Important legal issues specifically addressed in the paper are: copyright protection in situations when the author of the publication is unknown ; the restrictions of copyright protection in relation to the information that have a status of usual press information, including their attachments (photos, illustrations, sound, etc.); the rules about citing sources in tourist publications; analysis of the principle of self-protection of copyrights , as the primary principle of copyright protection; judicial protection of copyrights. The paper contains a special judicial analysis of copyright protection in cases where a violation of copyright law in tourist publications and / or media reports related to tourism events (including Internet postings and websites of tourist organizations) has resulted in lengthy legal processes. The paper gives suggestions for improvement of legislation, to facilitate judicial resolution of copyright disputes and to prevent them in the future.
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