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Copyright Act 2019


REPUBLIC OF NAURU
COPYRIGHT ACT 2019

_____________________________

No. 17 of 2019
______________________________


An Act to make provision for copyright in literary, musical and artistic works, audio-visual works, sound recordings and broadcasts and related purposes


Certified: 12th July 2019

Table of Contents

PART 1 – PRELIMINARY

1 Short Title

2 Commencement

3 Act binds the Republic

4 Objective of the Act

5 Scope of application

6 Copyright not to subsist except by this Act

7 Interpretation


PART 2 – COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS IN WORKS

8 Copyright

9 Original owner of copyright

10 Presumptions regarding authorship, producer of audio-visual works and publisher

11 Economic rights

12 Original ownership of economic rights

13 Moral right

14 Contracts for commissioned works

15 Republic’s copyright


PART 3 – PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT AND OTHER RELATED RIGHTS

16 Protection of works

17 Derivative works

18 Duration of copyright

19 Subject matter not protected


PART 4 - ECONOMIC RIGHTS

20 Assignment and licensing of rights of author

21 Agreement regarding future works

22 Assignee or exclusive licensee fails to use economic rights

23 Rights and remedies of exclusive licensee

24 Transfer and licensing of copyright


PART 5- INFRINGEMENT

25 Meaning of infringing copy

26 Infringement of copyright work


PART 6 - EXCEPTION TO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND LIMITATION OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS

27 Copying for research or private study

28 Temporary production

29 Quoting from work

30 Copying for educational purposes

31 Translation of works

32 Copying for legal purposes

33 Reproduction by libraries and archives

34 Copying for museums and galleries

35 Copying to report current events to the public

36 Copying and adaptation of computer programs

37 Display of works

38 Ephemeral recordings

39 Copying for persons with disability

40 Public lending


PART 7- CIRCUMVENTION OF LIMITATIONS ON ECONOMIC RIGHT PROHIBITED 26

41 Technological protection measures

42 Protection of rights management information


PART 8 – RIGHTS OF PERFORMERS, PRODUCERS AND BROADCASTERS 27

43 Exclusive rights of performers

44 Performers rights in relation to live aural performances and those fixed in sound recording

45 Performers may waive certain rights

46 Duration of rights of a performer

47 Exclusive rights of producers of sound recordings

48 Duration of rights of a producer

49 Equitable payment of use of sound recording

50 Exclusive rights of broadcasters

51 Duration of rights of a broadcaster

52 Limitation on protection

53 Transmission and licensing of rights of performer, producer, broadcaster


PART 9 – ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHTS

54 Special remedies

55 Presumptions

56 Unmeritorious threats

57 Seizure under Customs Act

58 Offences

59 Criminal sanctions


PART 10 - MISCELLANEOUS

60 Application of international treaties and conventions

61 Management rights

62 Regulations


Enacted by the Parliament of Nauru as follows:


PART 1 – PRELIMINARY

  1. Short Title

This Act may be cited as the Copyright Act 2019.

  1. Commencement

This Act commences on certification by the Speaker.

  1. Act binds the Republic

This Act binds the Republic.

  1. Objective of the Act

The objective of the Act is to:

(a) encourage authors, music composers, singers, artists to create original piece of works by granting them exclusive rights;

(b) stop the misuse of copyrights;

(c) protect the rights of the person who holds the copyright;

(d) provide methods of acquiring copyright;

(e) provide for economic rights and use of copyright; and

(f) provide civil and criminal remedies when there is copyright infringement.
  1. Scope of application
  2. Copyright not to subsist except by this Act

Subject to the provisions of this Act, no copyright shall subsist otherwise than by virtue of this Act.


  1. Interpretation

In this Act:

‘artistic, literary or scientific work’ includes the production of artistic, literary or scientific domain of:

(a) a book, pamphlet or other writing;

(b) an illustration, a map, plan or sketch;

(c) a lecture, sermon or any other address of a similar nature;

(d) a dramatic or dramatico-musical work;

(e) a musical work;

(f) a choreographic work or pantomime;

(g) an audio-visual work;

(h) a sound recording;

(i) a work of- fine art, such as a drawing or painting;

(j) a work of architecture or sculpture, an engraving or lithography or applied art including a multi-dimensional work;

(k) a painting, drawing, illustration, sketch, lithograph, tapestry, woodcut, print, collage and model;

(l) a photographic work;

(m) a computer programme; and

(n) any other work of artistic craftsmanship;

‘audio-visual work’ means a work consisting of a series of related images and accompanying sounds which are intended to be shown by any appropriate device includes a cinematograph or other film, and cinematographic elements of computer games;

‘author’ means the natural person who has created the work:


‘broadcast’ means a transmission by any means including by satellite or other wireless transmission and ‘broadcasting’ as defined in the Communications and Broadcasting Act 2018;


‘computer’ means a digital or smart phone, tablet computer, smart watch or other electronic or similar device having information processing capabilities;


‘computer program’ means a set of instructions, expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any other form, which is capable, when incorporated in a machine-readable medium, of causing a computer to perform or achieve a particular task or result;


‘copy’ includes a reproduction of a work in:


(a) written form;

(b) the form of a recording; or

(c) any other form;

‘copyright’ means the economic and moral rights subsisting in a work;


‘copyright owner’ means where:


(a) the economic rights are vested in the author;

-

(b) the economic rights are originally vested in a natural person other than the author or in a legal entity, that person or entity;

(c) the ownership of the economic rights has been transferred to a natural person or a legal entity, that person or entity;

‘copying’ in relation to a work, means reproducing, recording or storing the work or sound recording in digital or electronic format or in any other form which includes:

(a) reproducing, recording or storing a substantial part of the work or sound recording;

(b) in relation to an artistic work the making of a copy in 3 dimensions of a 2 dimensional work or a copy in 2 dimensions of a 3 dimensional work; and

(c) in relation to a film the making of a photograph of the whole or any substantial part of any image forming part of the film;

‘derivative work’ means any translations, adaptations, arrangements and other transformations or modifications of a pre-existing artistic, literary or scientific work and which work includes:


(a) a collection, compilation or arrangement or other transformation of pre-existing works of mere facts or data whether in machine readable or other form;

(b) an anthology, an encyclopedia or a database; or

(c) any other work, which, by reason of selection and arrangement of its contents, is original;

‘display’ means to show:


(a) a copy of a work directly or by means of a film, slide, television image or otherwise on screen or by means of any other device or process; or

(b) a copy of audio-visual work, individual images in a non-sequential order;

‘distribution to the public’ means placing copyright work in such a manner making accessible for public circulation of the original or a copy of a work, fixation of a performance or a phonogram, in tangible form through:


(a) sale or other transfer of ownership; and

(b) importing for the purpose of such public circulation;

‘dramatic work’ includes:


(a) a work of dance or mime;

(b) a musical or pantomime;

(c) a scenario or script of a film;

(d) a work of improvisation; and

(e) any work created for a stage production;

‘equitable remuneration’ means:


(a) - such remuneration as may be prescribed; or

(b) where no such remuneration has been prescribed, such remuneration as may, in default of agreement between the relevant parties, be determined by a recognised dispute settlement mechanism or a court of law;

‘exclusive licence’ means a licence to the exclusion of all other persons;


‘film’:


(a) means a recording in any medium from which a moving image and any accompanying sounds may be produced by any means; and

(b) includes a still picture extracted from a film;

‘first published’ means:

(a) - first published in the Republic;

(b) - first published outside the Republic and published in the Republic not later than 30 days thereafter;

‘fixation’ means the embodiment of sounds, images or both or of the representations thereof, from which they can be perceived, reproduced or communicated through a device;


‘infringing copy’ in relation to the copyright in a work has the meaning given by section 27;


‘licence’ means a written authorisation granted by a copyright owner to another person to exploit the copyright wholly or in part;

‘literary work’:

(a) means any work other than a dramatic or musical work that is written, spoken or sung; and

(b) includes a computer program;

‘musical work’ includes any accompanying words or actions;

‘owner’:


(a) in relation to the copyright in a work means the owner of the economic rights in the work being:

(b) in relation to the economic rights of a performer, producer of a sound recording or broadcaster means as the case may be:

‘original work’ does not apply:


(a) where it is a copy of another work;

(b) to the extent that it is a copy of another work;

(c) where it infringes the copyright of another work;

‘perform’ means to present a work or expressions of folklore by a personal rendition;


‘performer’ means actors, singers, musicians, dancers, and other persons who act, sing, deliver, declaim, play in, interpret or otherwise perform literary or artistic works;


‘phonogram’ means the fixation of the sounds of a performance or of other sounds, or of a representation of sounds, other than in the form of a fixation incorporated in a cinematographic or other audio-visual work;


‘photographic work’ means a recording of light or other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced or from which an image may be produced, irrespective of the technique (chemical, electronic or other) by which such recording is made;


‘producer of an audio-visual work or a phonogram’ means the natural person or legal entity who undertakes the initiative and responsibility for the making of the audio-visual work or phonogram;


‘public performance’ means:


(a) in work the recitation, playing, dancing, acting or otherwise performing the work, either directly or by means of any device or process other than audio-visual work;

(b) in audio-visual work, the showing of images in sequence and the making of accompanying sounds audible; or

(c) in phonogram, making the recorded sounds audible and, where such performances can be at a place or places where persons outside the normal circle of the family and its closest acquaintances can be present;

‘publication or published works’ means:


(a) works published with the consent of their authors;

(b) by means of manufacture of the copies;

(c) for rent, possession, sale or other transfer of ownership; and

(d) in a reasonable quantity to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public;

‘related rights’ means those rights conferred upon a performer, a producer of phonograms and a broadcasting organisation by this Act;


‘rental’ means the transfer of the possession of the original or a copy of a work or phonogram for a limited period of time for profit;


‘reproduction’ means the making of one or more copies of a work or phonogram in any manner or form, including any permanent or temporary storage of the work or phonogram in electronic form;


‘reprographic reproduction’ means the making of screenshots, facsimile copies of the original or a copy of a work by means other than printing, such as photocopying, whether or not they are reduced or enlarged in scale;


‘rights management information’ means:


(a) any information that identifies the author, work, performer, performance of the performer, the phonogram, the producer of the phonogram, the broadcaster, the broadcast, the owner of any right under this Act; or

(b) information about the terms and conditions of use of the work, the performance, the phonogram or the broadcast; and

(c) any number or code that represents such information, when any of these items of information is attached to a copy of a work, a fixed performance, a phonogram or a fixed broadcast, or appears in connection with the broadcasting, communication to the public or making available to the public of a work, a fixed performance, a phonogram or a broadcast;

‘performer’ means an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other individual who performs a dramatic, literary, artistic or musical work;


‘publish’ in relation to a work or sound recording means making available to the public tangible copies of the work or sound recording:


(a) in a reasonable quantity;

(b) for rent, possession, sale or other transfer of ownership; and

(c) with the consent of the owner of the economic rights in the work or sound recording;

‘public display’ means:


(a) the direct showing or the showing by any means to the public of an original work or a copy of the work irrespective of whether the public is or may be present at the same time or at different places or times; and

(b) in the case of a film, includes a non-sequential showing of individual images from the film;

‘public performance’ -


(a) for a work other than a film, means the recitation, playing, dancing, singing, acting or other performance of the work directly or by means of any device or process at one or more places where and at one or more times when the public are or may be present;

(b) for a film, means the showing of the film at one or more places where and at one or more times when the public are or may be present;

(c) for a sound recording, means making the recording audible at one or more places where and at one or more times when the public are or may be present;

‘sound recording’ means:


(a) the fixation of a sequence of sounds capable of being perceived aurally and of being reproduced by any appropriate device; and

(b) does not include the sound track associated with an audio-visual work;

‘technological protection measures’ means any technology, device or component that, in the normal course of operation, is designed to prevent or restrict acts, in respect of works or objects of related rights, which are not authorised by the right holder;


‘work’ means:


(a) an original work of any of the following:

(b) includes a part of any work described in any of the sub paragraphs (a) (i) to (viii);

‘work of joint authorship’ means a work created by the contribution of two or more authors.

PART 2 – COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS IN WORKS

  1. Copyright
  2. Original owner of copyright
  3. Presumptions regarding authorship, producer of audio-visual works and publisher
  4. Economic rights
  5. Original ownership of economic rights
  6. Moral right
  7. Contracts for commissioned works

the person who commissioned the work may terminate the commission but shall pay to the author an equitable remuneration in return for the work done by the author.

  1. Republic’s copyright

PART 3 – PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT AND OTHER RELATED RIGHTS

  1. Protection of works
  2. Derivative works

The protection of any derivative work shall be without prejudice to any protection of a pre-existing work incorporated in or utilised for the making of such a work.

  1. Duration of copyright
(2) Where two or more individuals are authors of a work, copyright in the work exists:

(3) Copyright in a collective work or film exists for 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the latest of the following events occurred:

(4) Copyright in a work of applied art including a collective work exists for 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.

(5) Copyright in a typographical arrangement of a published edition of the whole or any part of a literary work, dramatic work or musical work including a collective work exists for 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which this edition is first published.
  1. Subject matter not protected

The matters contained in this section are not protected under this Part:

(a) any idea, procedure, system, method of operation, concept, principle, mere data, discovery or date expressed, described, explained, illustrated or otherwise embodied in the work;

(b) -any official text of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, as well as any official translation thereof;

(c) news of the day or miscellaneous facts having the character of mere items of press information;

(d) political speeches and speeches delivered in the course of legal proceedings; or

(e) judgments of a court of law or tribunal.

PART 4 - ECONOMIC RIGHTS

  1. Assignment and licensing of rights of author
  2. Agreement regarding future works
  3. Assignee or exclusive licensee fails to use economic rights
  4. Rights and remedies of exclusive licensee
  5. Transfer and licensing of copyright

PART 5- INFRINGEMENT

  1. Meaning of infringing copy

it shall be presumed until the contrary is proved that the object was made at a time when copyright existed in the work.

(5) An object that a person imports or proposes to import into the Republic is not an infringing copy under subsection (3)(b) where:
  1. Infringement of copyright work

(2) This Act does not limit or affect the requirement to keep one or more copies of the published work in accordance with this Act or any other written law that requires copies to be deposited for the purposes of preserving the documents for heritage purposes.

PART 6 - EXCEPTION TO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND LIMITATION OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS

  1. Copying for research or private study
  2. Temporary production

A person does not infringe copyright in a work by copying the work where:

(a) the reproduction is made in the process of a digital transmission of the work or an act of making the work noticeable by storing it digitally or electronically; and

(b) it is caused by a person, who with the authorisation of the owner of the copyright, is entitled to make the transmission or making noticeable of the work;

(c) it is an accessory to the transmission or making it noticeable, that occurs during the normal operation of the equipment used and entails the automatic deletion of the copy without enabling the retrieval of the work for any other purpose than those referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b);

(d) the copy is an essential part of a technological process of:

(i) making or receiving a communication that does not infringe copyright in the work; or

(ii) enabling the lawful use of the work; and

(e) the copy has no independent economic worth.

  1. Quoting from work
  2. Copying for educational purposes
  3. Translation of works
  4. Copying for legal purposes
  5. Reproduction by libraries and archives
  6. Copying for museums and galleries
  7. Copying to report current events to the public
(2) However, the person shall:

(3) Subsection (1)(a)(i) does not apply where the owner of the copyright in the work has expressly prohibited copying or communicating of the work for the purpose described in that subsection.
  1. Copying and adaptation of computer programs

(ii) for archival purposes; or

(c) to replace the lawfully owned copy of the program where that copy is lost or destroyed; and

(d) the copy is made without the authorisation of the owner of the copyright.

(2) For the avoidance of doubt, a copy or an adaptation of a computer program shall not be used for the purpose other than that under subsection (1)(b).

(3) A copy or adaptation shall be destroyed where its continued possession does not satisfy the requirements of this section or otherwise is no longer lawful.

37 Display of works

(1) A person does not infringe copyright in a work where the person publicly displays a work or copies of the work:

(2) A person does not infringe copyright in a work by publicly displaying or publicly performing part of the work, without the authorisation of the copyright owner, where the display or performance is part of a presentation at a conference, seminar, workshop or similar activity.

(3) The public display of originals or copies of works shall be permitted without the authorisation of the author, where:

(a) the display is not made by means of:

(i) - a film, slide, television image or otherwise on screen; or

(ii) - any other device or process; and

(b) the work has been published; or

(c) the original or the copy displayed has been sold, given away or otherwise transferred to another person by the author.
  1. Ephemeral recordings
  2. Copying for persons with disability

accessible format’, in relation to a work or a copy of a work, means a format which will allow a person with a disability to access and use the work to substantially the same degree as a person without a disability; and

person with a disability’ means a person who requires a work or a copy of a work to be adapted in some way to enable the person to access and use the work to substantially the same degree as a person without the same disability.

  1. Public lending

A library or archive whose activities do not directly or indirectly serve commercial gain, may without the authorisation of the author lend to a member of the public a copy of a work, other than a computer programme, which is part of the permanent collection of the library or archive.

PART 7- CIRCUMVENTION OF LIMITATIONS ON ECONOMIC RIGHT PROHIBITED

  1. Technological protection measures
  2. Protection of rights management information

PART 8 – RIGHTS OF PERFORMERS, PRODUCERS AND BROADCASTERS

  1. Exclusive rights of performers
  2. Performers rights in relation to live aural performances and those fixed in sound recording
  3. Performers may waive certain rights
  4. Duration of rights of a performer

The rights of the performer shall exist:

(a) in the case of a performance fixed in a sound recording, until the end of the calendar year, that is, 50 years after the year in which the performance was fixed as a sound recording; or

(b) in any other case, until the end of the calendar year, that is, 50 years after the year in which the performance took place.
  1. Exclusive rights of producers of sound recordings
  2. Duration of rights of a producer

The rights conferred on a producer under section 47 exist:

(a) until the end of the calendar year, that is, 50 years after the year in which the sound recording is first published; or

(b) where the recording has not been published until the end of the calendar year, that is, 50 years from the making of the recording.
  1. Equitable payment of use of sound recording
  2. Exclusive rights of broadcasters

(2) The broadcaster is the owner of the rights under subsection (1) in respect of the broadcast.

  1. Duration of rights of a broadcaster

The rights conferred on a broadcaster under section 50 exist to the end of the calendar year, that is, 50 years from the making of broadcast.

  1. Limitation on protection

Despite sections 43, 47 and 50, it is not a breach of the rights conferred on a performer, producer of a sound recording or broadcaster under any of those sections where:

(a) an individual copies the performance, sound recording or communication to the public by the broadcaster exclusively for personal purposes;

(b) a person uses or copies short excerpts of the performance, sound recording or communication for the purpose of reporting current events and the use is justifiable for that purpose;

(c) a person copies the performance, sound recording or communication solely for:

(d) a person acts in relation to some aspect of a performance, sound recording or communication to the public that is a work and the actions do not infringe the copyright in the work.
  1. Transmission and licensing of rights of performer, producer, broadcaster

PART 9 – ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHTS

  1. Special remedies

In addition to the powers and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under any other written law, the Supreme Court shall have the power and jurisdiction to grant the following reliefs or remedies:


(a) injunctions to prohibit the committing or continuation of committing, of infringement of any protected right;

(b) mandatory or restraining injunctions including Anton Piller orders for search and seizure, freezing orders and writ ne exeat Republica;

(c) damages;

(d) orders against third parties including a class of people or distributors of infringing orders for entry and seizure of such infringing material or object;

(e) forfeiture of any infringing copy and of any apparatus, article or thing used for the making of the infringing copy or otherwise, as the Court thinks fit;

(f) where infringing copies exist, the Court may order the destruction or other reasonable disposition of those copies and their packaging in such manner as to avoid harm to the right holder, unless the owner of the right requests otherwise;

(g) where there is reasonable cause to believe that implements may be used to commit or continue to commit acts of infringement, the Court shall, whenever and to the extent that it is reasonable, order their destruction or other reasonable disposition outside the channels of commerce in such manner as to minimise the risks of further infringements, including the surrender to the owner of the right;

(h) legal and any other incidental costs; or

(i) complementary orders to enforce the order or orders of the Court.
  1. Presumptions

In any action for an alleged infringement of copyright:

(a) it shall be presumed, unless the defendant puts it in issue, that:

(b) it shall be presumed that the person named as the author of a published work is the lawful author, unless the contrary is proven;
  1. Unmeritorious threats
  2. Seizure under Customs Act

The provisions of the Customs Act 2014 dealing with suspension of the release of suspected illegal goods applies to articles and implements protected under this Act.


  1. Offences

Where a person infringes any rights or related rights of an author or owner of any copyright or related rights, such person commits an offence and upon conviction shall be liable to a penalty under section 59.


  1. Criminal sanctions

PART 10 - MISCELLANEOUS

  1. Application of international treaties and conventions

Where an inconsistency arises between a provision of this Act and any international treaty or convention to which the Republic is a party in respect of copyright or other rights protected under this Act, the international treaty prevails to the extent of the inconsistency.

  1. Management rights
  2. Regulations

The Cabinet may make regulations prescribing all matters necessary or convenient to give effect to this Act.



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