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Swiss Copyright of early photographs
At the start of the photographic era, photographs were not considered to be works of art, and consequently not subject to copyright law. This opinion changed during the second half of the 19th century.

This is exemplified by the versions of the Berne Convention, from its inception in 1886 to the Rome 1928 version, which have paragraphs specifically dedicated to photographs and require signatory states to adapt their national laws to include photographs. This also implies that in this case the international treaty does not over-rule national law.

Similarly in the first Swiss Federal copyright law of 1883 (text only in German - effective from 1 January 1884), a specific section was deemed necessary for the case of photographic works, and granted a period of protection different from that of other works of art. Registration of publication was required and copyright protection was only 5 years from the date of registration.

The Swiss Copyright Law of 1922 (text only in German - effective from 23 April 1923) fulfilled the requirements of the Berne Convention by explicitly including photographic works in the list of works of art protected by the law, with the same period of protection, generally 30 years pma. (The periods for posthumously published works and anonymous works are different.)

The laws of 1955 and 1992 successively lengthened to protection period, first to 50 then 70 years pma.

Before 1884, copyright law was enacted by the individual cantons.