It is true that Article 14bis BC grants an exclusive right of public performance to the author of a cinematographic work and that the Berne Convention does not expressly permit an exception with regard to this right. Nevertheless, it is commonly acknowledged that national legislation may provide so-called minor exceptions with regard to the minimal rights under the Berne Convention without express permission; this rule also applies to the minimal rights under Article 14bis BC. Minor exceptions are limitations which only slightly affect the right without prejudicing it in substance.
The legal licence contained in Article 56 d.1 of the Copyright Statute issuch a minor exception, compatible with the Berne convention.
However, whether Article 56 d.1 of the Copyright Statute is actually compatible with Article 14bis BC is not relevant for the following reasons:
Authors from other member states of the Berne Union may invoke minimal rights granted by theBerneConvention immediately,the relevant provisions oftheBerneConvention have the precedence of application in relation to possibly diverging national legislation. In other words, in Austria the relevant provisions oftheBerneConvention are self executing and diverging provisionsin the national legislation only apply to Austrian nationals.
Austria's Supreme Court has recently confirmed this in a fundamental judgement (SC 31/01/1995 - "Ludus tonalis").
