Copyright Law :: Protected or Not (Part 2)

As a follow up to yesterday's post on Copyright Law, I went back to the WIPO website and found the following disclaimer on the front page of the WIPO website copyright section:

The attention of the Secretariat of WIPO has been drawn to the fact that certain organizations issue certificates purporting to grant copyright protection. It should be noted that these certificates do not create any right.  The Secretariat recalls that, by virtue of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, works are protected without any formality in all the countries party to that Convention. This means that international copyright protection is automatic, it exists as soon as a work is created, and this principle applies in all the countries party to the Berne Convention.

Contracting parties of the Berne Convention include (in part):  USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Iceland, Spain, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Czech Rep., Russian Rep., Australia, Austria, India, China, Israel, Central African Rep., and many others..