THE LEGAL EFFECT OF DIGITAL COPYRIGHT REGISTRY ENTRIES AND THEIR COMPATIBILITY WITH THE BERNE CONVENTION

Abstract

The digitalisation of copyright management has renewed the question of whether a state may attach legal consequences to entries in a copyright registry without breaching the prohibition of formalities in Article 5(2) of the Berne Convention. This thesis examines the legal effect of registry entries in the context of Uzbekistan's Unified Database of electronic control copies established in 2022. Drawing on United States law, WIPO survey data and doctrinal scholarship, it distinguishes constitutive formalities from declaratory ones and argues that a registry entry may lawfully create a rebuttable presumption of authorship, ownership and scope of rights. The thesis proposes an amendment to Article 11 of the national Copyright Law implementing this model.