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The berne act for dvds
 

Does anyone here know about "The Berne Act?" I'm on a website that sells old tv shows that never was released on dvd. I would like to purchase these items for "personal use". This Is what I found on the "FAQ" Section. Can anyone confirm If this Is true about "THE BERNE ACT?" I did some research, but I'm not getting a 100% positive answer, some people say it's true, others claim it isn't true.

Q: "Some of these DVD's haven't even been released yet. How is it possible that you sell them?"

A: There is a section of the American copyright law known as "The Berne Act" that Clearly states: films unreleased in the United States, including original versions of films altered and/or edited for release in the United States, are NOT protected by American copyright; thus, they are considered public domain. The entire purpose of our website is to provide otherwise unavailable films or television shows to the serious collector.

No one knows about this????

Load of crap, if someone owns the rights you cannot infringe. It does not matter if it has not been released yet.

The Berne Convention was agreed to by the US in 1989. While it is true that this had the effect of placing certain films from other countries into the public domain, that was never the intent. By 1996, the few protections lost were restored. Some pirate websites use this little understood fact to make themselves look more legitimate and explain to potential customers why it is supposedly OK for them to sell burned copies of movies. But it is a fantasy. eBay has addressed this directly:

What About the Berne Convention?
Some users have written to us asking whether the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (sometimes mistakenly referred to as the "Berne Act") allows them to list an otherwise infringing item. The short answer is "no." The Berne Convention is an international treaty that the United States agreed to in 1989. By signing the Berne Convention, the U.S. committed to making certain changes to its copyright law. In fact, even before signing the Berne Convention, the U.S. had made all the necessary changes to its law. The Berne Convention itself is not U.S. law and does not excuse activity which otherwise would violate U.S. copyright law.