National treatment

The principle of national treatment is the cornerstone of the major international intellectual property treaties &mdash; Berne and Paris. It also has been the keystone of international trade treaties, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the WTO. It is of enormous significance to our copyright industries.

As a general matter, the principle of national treatment means that under a nation’s laws, a foreigner enjoys no lesser rights and benefits than a citizen of that nation receives, subject to the specific terms of the relevant international conventions. In copyright terms, it means, for example, that a German work for which copyright enforcement is sought in the United States would be treated under U.S. law exactly as if it were a U.S. work.